Integrity

Remember the day
When you taught me not to lie?
Did you know then where it would take me?
Or did you think that by the time
My life balanced on the edge,
My body too public and too visible
My heart too private,
Did you think I would by then have learned to compromise?

But I remembered. And decided
That integrity
Is more than a pledge made in court
Is more than proper conduct,
And often quite the opposite.
Our integrity pushes is where no one would have us go,
No one but our heart.

Our integrity is not some cold intellectual possession.
It is the spark of our life,
Bursting through our skin
Coloring our cheeks,
Shining in our eyes.
It is our heart beat.
It is the strength through which we Are.
It is the steps we take.
The fragile hands with which we expose our hearts
And allow them to be stolen.
As we say the most difficult words of all
'This is who I am'.