Observing my habit of remarking on various topics
A friend once characterized that practice as pontification
A word that ridicules papal pronouncement ex cathedra
Surely my friend doesn’t suppose that I imagine
My speech as otherwise than fallible

Are we not obliged to speak the truth as we understand it
Or perhaps a better policy is to keep one’s own counsel
And while honesty might be best
A safer second best might well be maintained in silence
That’s all that can be said for safety first

People hate it when you tell them what they already know
They hate it worse when you test their knowledge with a pop quiz
Often their actions remove the lion’s share of any doubt
Don’t they know not to blow people’s brains out including their own
Don’t they know to prevent children’s starvation in a proxy war

I don’t know what you don’t know
And no doubt I err when my recent discovery
Serves as prize to be displayed with pride deadly pride
But perhaps I could use knowledge to build a bridge
That I might cross to offer aid humbly to the afflicted