- M.A. Istvan, jr.
You're Going Down with Me
You’re Going Down with Me

To understand what illusions
help us to go on living
can undercut their power
to help us go on living.
One must thus be strong
to set out on their discovery.
Beware. Some inform us
about how such and such
is an illusion needed for life
as if themselves unfazed,
and as if doing us a service,
when the truth is darker.
Made sick by such findings
as no one is responsible
ultimately for his behavior,
they are trying to spread
the sickness, trying to take
others down with them.
Do keep hope. Some have
the strength for such findings.
Some have the sense, the care,
not to spread such findings
to just any old ear, even if
they have been made sick.
—M. A. Istvan Jr.