I am naïve
Not the ordinary kind of naïve
Not the “wish upon a star and all of your dreams will come true” kind of naïve
But I am still naïve
I am naïve because, no matter how many incidences
Of lying, hating, fearing, fighting
That occur right before my augmented consciousness
I still believe in change
And regardless of the number of masochistic charlatans
Who staple crumpled paper to their foreheads
With the words, “I am who I am, not who you want me to be”
Scrawled hastily as a last ditch attempt
To rid themselves of any lingering morality that clings to them like day- old saran wrap
I still believe that people want to change
And when the saran wrap discarded by the side of the road
Is run over by trucks too eager to get where they’re going to see where they are
I still am naïve enough to be surprised
My naïveté is the atmosphere that envelops me
It smolders the incoming debris
The abhorrence and the fury that threatens my sanity
It reduces it to tears of ashes and cries of dust
Which are quickly washed away by the soothing rain
That drums a perpetual rhythm
In my psyche
And those masochistic charlatans and negligent truck drivers
Who obliterate integrity simply by doing what they do every day
Are easily drowned out by the tipping tapping
Ringing singing
Pittering pattering
Symphony of naïveté echoing in my mind
Sometimes, the resonance of my personal music
Reverberates within others’ ears
And they ask me why
Why do I live in a world where the regrettable truth of humanity’s malevolence is ignored and belief in the integrity of human nature is upheld as the societal ideal?
Why do I live in a world where the everyday exploits of cruelty and madness still peal the faint ringing of surprise, instead of the invariable tone of monotony that they deserve?
I answer them simply
Because I am
Naïve