cabal a group of conspirators, a secret plot
Some think that Truth is hidden, and in all,
the private purview of their own cabal.
Well, look around the world, see what that’s wrought:
centuries of squabbles to define what Truth is not.
cacophony harsh, discordant sound : dissonance
If you would sing your own song in the world,
you mustn’t mind the world’s cacophony.
For it’s not fair that you alone are loud,
expecting others to sing silently.
callow immature and inexperienced
Some ponds appear quite deep and still,
while others are quite shallow.
Some fields are fit to yield great crops
while others must lie fallow.
What lies beneath the surface marks
the wise soul from the callow.
canard a false, unfounded, and misleading story
I would to war, except that I
hold truth in such regard;
and will not bow to jingo fears
based on a grand canard.
If weapons of destructive might
were found where they were claimed,
I might be of a different mind,
and of my land, not shamed.
casuistry subtle but misleading reasoning, esp. about moral principles
That one has leave to do a thing, implies the casuist,
it must be sanctioned by the heavens, else would not exist;
thus armed, their followers proceed with righteous presuppose,
and think their arm’s dominion swings where I dare put my nose.
catharsis purgation, especially of the bowels, emotional or psychological cleansing
The voting booth, ideally,
gives catharsis to a nation;
Without ideals, it cannot cure
politic constipation.
cenotaph a monument built in honor of a dead person whose remains are interred elsewhere
The polls reveal widespread support
for our brave nation’s path;
Let’s hope for freedom’s sake
Iraq is not its cenotaph.
claque a group of persons hired to applaud at a performance
Are they our representatives,
or just a Party claque?
Republican, or Democrat,
I’d like my country back.
clastic made up of fragments
Religion claims to stretch to fit
all times, through faith’s elastic,
neglecting to remind us that
the truth, at best, is clastic;
it cannot fit in just one mold,
nor neatly be confined.
It’s purpose is to make us seek
beyond set paradigms.
concrescence the growing together of related parts, as of the anatomy
As darkness fades away when faced
with growing luminescence,
so should our differences recede
as we accept concrescence:
the world becoming ever smaller
and our lives entwined
’til I agree your way as sacred
as I now claim mine.
