Felix Dennis

I place more trust in kindliness
   Than honesty or pride,
Though as for that, all trust, I guess,
   Is not so deep or wide

As we should like to think: it’s thread
   Once rent, is snatched away,
Yet kindliness, with love half-dead,
   Still makes a tourniquet.

While as for pride, an armoured suit
   Is more its metaphor,
It has its uses in dispute
   With blackguards at the door.

Curt honesty, loosed from its sheath,
   Will cut both friend and foe,
Its coat of arms, a quartered wreath
   Upon a field of woe.

Each virtue’s armament and art
  Turns traitor, overdone;
Commit to kindliness — dear heart —
   If you must choose just one.

Mandalay, Mustique August 5, 2006