The Limit - Poem
Updated: 2 days ago
A poem about the moment trust runs out. In “The Limit,” Greg Luti follows a speaker through the painful realization that the systems and people he relied on have failed, leaving him isolated and questioning what comes next.
Who do you go to when the system fails you?
When your heroes can’t even defend you anymore?
What do you do when all that you know is wrong?
Nothing more than a carefully crafted lie, you believed and developed your life around.
What do you do when the hope you carried is thrown to the ground and disregarded?
As though it was nothing to be carried at all, only a paper weight, a trinket with no value.
Where do you go where there is nowhere to go?
The judges are out of the court.
The police are not in their stations.
The firefighters won’t answer the call.
The nurses are not in the hospitals.
The doctors won’t take on any more patients.
The security guards are no longer standing by the door.
Teachers no longer have the answers.
Research only leaves you empty, with more trivial matters on your mind.
And no one you know in your life can utter a response that would qualify as a valid answer.
What do you do when you are told that it was a lie?
The judge was never about mercy.
You just never went on trial.
The police were not going to solve the crime.
You just never had one.
The firefighter was not going to put out your fire.
You were lucky enough to never have one.
The nurse was not able to help you.
You just never needed surgery.
The doctor could not cure you.
You just never had a life-threatening illness.
The security guard wasn’t going to stop a criminal.
There was no one who ever broke into the place.
The teachers never had the answers.
They lied to you in order to get you to pass the next test.
The research you gather is limited because you are only one person, with limited time.
And those who are experts were only experts at pretending to be experts.
No one you know ever had an answer.
And they never will.
Where do you go?
When all that you were told was a lie…
You do what any sane person does, and ponder…
Oh, do you ponder…
How can a man feel obligated to righteousness or justice when those who wield the power to distribute those values feel no need to uphold them?
Why should you care about laws if the judge doesn’t?
Why bother with crime if the police officer is corrupt?
How can you care about putting out fires if the firefighters are not doing it?
The nurse and doctor don’t care about health, so why should you?
The security guard lets everyone in, so who are you to stop that nonsense?
Why should you worry about answers if the teachers don’t?
What research is there to learn, if there is personal bias and prejudice attached to each line you read?
Why should you ask questions if everyone you know around you doesn’t?
We live in a liar’s world…
We are told that truth and honesty matter growing up, only to learn that our heroes lied their way to the top, and those who make important decisions that impact many of us are, in fact, liars.
Liars rule. Honest men are ostracized as though they are the criminals for proposing the questions.
The honest men then find a fight against not truth but a system that protects the liars.
You are not engaging with a liar one-on-one as though you are Socrates.
No, you are battling a team that will defend the liar and does all they can to make you out to be the wrong one.
Then you see all that you know, the judges to the teachers may not have ever even been on your side at all.
They believed the very lie, and your world shatters before you.
You wanted to believe in truth and justice.
A part of you still wants to.
You want to think that a hero will come in and save the day at the end, and everything will be okay.
The liars will get theirs one day…
That is how the world works, right?
And now, the cycle is complete.
You became the very liar you hated, for instead of seeing the truth in front of you, you are accepting of the life, as though it was the truth all along.
And then, no matter what you do, you are left with the same disturbing question….
Where do you go?
Who do you go to when this happens?
This is the part of the poem where I am supposed to come up with a witty line for you.
To give you something to ponder about and leave you with.
This should be a witty, tongue-in-cheek moment for you and me, as we laugh at the questions I asked.
They were just questions and nothing more.
My job as a poet is to ask some questions for us all, as we all see them and enjoy them.
Ha, ha!
Let’s all have a good laugh!
Oh boy! That last line was great!
Did you think that line was hysterical? I certainly did!
Ha, ha!
Because that last line is too funny…
Too right on the ball.
Too correct for you and me.
And the honesty leads to the humor…
As though we are laughing at ourselves as much as whatever the original line was about.
I want there to be a line here for this question.
In this moment, there is no witty retort I can give you to make you feel happy.
Something you can take with you, and feel a little better about the world and your place in it.
This question has no answer….
Because when this happens….
When the lie is learned, and the truth is revealed…
No one has an answer.
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