On Human Strength

On Human Strength

A man can’t pretend weakness.
Weakness is real.
Human are weak
Flawed
Creatures.
All a human being can
Counterfeit
Is strength:
Strength is never real.

The only man worth
Respect is one who
Fakes strength
Both consistently
And believably
Even to himself.

Strength
Is never real.

from Poems of the New Old West
Copyright 2002, Jack Purcell