FREE FOR ALL

Truth stands revealed to all.

 

I may cover up my eyes,

turn my back, stamp my feet:

but truth is what it is.

 

Or I may hide it from others,

steer them along another road, impose a censorship;

but they will find truth somewhere,

and their discovery will uncover my deception.

 

And then again, I may declare that only I have truth

 

But truth will out.

it cannot be suppressed, or hidden;

it has no favorites.

 

Let me, then, have confidence in freedom

for truth cannot be over-thrown by error.

Let me have confidence in growth

for truth must be discovered piece by piece.

Let me have confidence in honesty

for truth cannot take sides.

 

Let me confront what is unknown

naked of all prejudice,

bare of preconceptions,

confident and smiling,

knowing that the truth that I may find

is free to all.

 

(This poem is published with permission from the family of Carl J. Nelson, who lived from 1915-2015. He was a farmer, logger, philosopher, Quaker, poet and served as a pastor of a number of UU churches.)

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