Potential energy

I like the idea of potential energy:

Shock absorbers, 

Vigilant grand-aunts;

A world where consequence lies in wait.

The dam’s face, mighty and ordered,

The waiting lake that drowns dissent,

The steady releases the turbines run on,

The hungry deluge when the storm comes.

I relate to it—

An appearance of composure

And a store of suffering 

Have their uses.

Explanations

You’re too smart to be religious, people have said.

I know you wanted to, other people have said. 

Yet other people, with Grade-x subtlety,

Wheedle, ‘Apparently so-and-so and you…’

Mind-reading is cultural competence hereabouts,

And I’m often scolded by those who see it 

As also Love’s labour. 

Sometimes I wish I were more adept at picking up 

The shot blanks, the loneliness. 

At other times, I am offended by the claim. 

Beneath my ego’s visor, my heart jittery and swollen,

I offer my best silences, reverence for your unknown, 

Restraint of the grasping, fumbling guesses:

So that you can speak and be learnt from.

‘No, thank you’ is fine. ‘What a fool’ is unacceptable.