Baneful Invitations

Like the sucker punch in the ring, it’s the crooked smile we don’t see coming that takes us down.

Baneful Invitations
                    by Odin Roark

With so many invitations offered
He often graciously refused
Even as the ones he accepted
Colored him wary of power’s enticement

Seldom did he recognize the shadows
So caught in the obvious seduction
That cloak of safety
Forever capable of disguise
By allure’s chameleon

Into the years of light’s duplicity
The darkness that strove to rule
He wandered
Bereft of judgment
So unakin to wisdom’s path

Until

Worn sandals of search
Became unneeded
As the rutted paths
Washed out roads
Mapped futures
Disappeared
Such became his epiphany

That becoming one with
The nymph of his freedom-quest
Life’s tenacity
Like his own
Found solace from solicitation

Reclining amidst the tundra of austerity
Where honesty
Not manipulation
Integrity
Not duplicity
Flowered his blanket of comfort
Requests became gossamer

As his view from on high
Amidst fragrances sublime
Blinded eyesight’s temptation
Deafened hearing’s regret
Lifted the sense of being
Outside the once enticing prison
He could but gaze with wonder

Down there
Amidst the throngs
Invitations continued multiplying
Just as acceptance
Continued gorging itself