(Poem) Among Friends

If I cannot stand among friends.
If I cannot stand up for what I feel is right
who am I?
If I cannot challenge my family
for a wrong for fear of division
and distress,
How can I stand among anyone to do the same.

Shall I speak among strangers
who know not me
who have no means of
truly hurting me
to whom I have no alliance
no bonds, nothing to lose.

Shall I speak among them
in whom I have staked nothing
to whom I owe nothing.

Shall I stand up for truth
among those who care not that I exist,
but not among those who matter to me most.
Then am I not a coward.

Do I not sell these strangers
false pretenses, false passion.
Am I not a hypocrite.

If I cannot among my friends,
risk every relationship I have
every friend, every solace,
every social bond and value,

If I cannot stand among them
to advocate a new world.
How dare I stand among strangers,
in hopes of changing their's?