Soliloquy: To Run Honorably, Or Not To Run Honorably

To run honorably, or not to run honorably--those are my options: Whether ‘tis wiser in the main to malign The lives and motives of my foes Or to defend myself against their charges, And by defending . . . buoy them? To taint--to smear? Perhaps. And by these means to goad the field To err with thoughtless, scurrilous gibes That mark them petty--a scenario Most certainly to my gain. To taint--to smear. To smear, perchance to rouse? O, there’s the risk! For if I soil their names, what harm may come Should they then probe my dark impulses Prompts me to hold. Thus the upshot Is that defamation circles back. Why would he brook my lies on fraud and bribes, That one his bullying ways and past as shameless rake, This one’s bent for backroom deals, that wife’s excess, His countenance of graft, this other’s fancy homes And malnourished dogs near death in household pens, And not at once retort about my specious provenance, Which would cut badly? I might slanders sling And smirch and slime without a conscience tug, But that the fear of fire coming back, An incendiary charge from whose blast No candidate survives, stays my hand And has me at a loss for what to sow Than turn to libels that may come back in tens. Thus caution keeps me playing not to lose; And thus my sordid plan to lie and bait Is sidelined now for fear of what I’d reap. And chicanery of such guile and lure, A tack denied, puts victory at risk, And boosts the case for cheating. Shush now, fool; the cleric starts his homily.