The Risk Perceived

(The Things We Agreed Were Not There)

They say, “The risk perceived is the duty defined”
Ah what prejudicial slight of hand is perception!
What of that not perceived, or those left behind?
Voiceless prisoners to this tyrannical transgression.

To what or to whom do we collectively owe
Those victims of lies of omission?
An excuse perhaps fit for a serpents tongue
Just nod, wink and hiss your complicit permission.

What lives shall we imprison with this dearth of clear vision?
Or can the unknown truly do us no harm?
A moral compass is a must that perhaps we might trust
Finely calibrated to sound the alarm.

But who could truly resist to give fate’s hands a twist?
While prudent concerns remain far more confined.
Questioning who’s next to be burned, should the tables be turned,
When my life is yours and your life is mine!

For if “the risk perceived is the duty defined”
It serves us best to be keenly aware
That the risk we all run, when it’s all said and done
Where The Things we Agreed Were not There.