Martin Braun Poet Free verse

Notes About The Poem

WHO are WE at our CORE?

WHO are WE at our CORE? 
   How should I answer such a brazen QUESTION!?

Are WE defined by SPIRIT or CHOICE or our DETERMINATION?
   Or is it our NATURE or a DIVINE INFLUENCE on our FREE WILL on further EXAMINATION?

At the CENTER of our EXISTENCE 
   are WE defined by our EGOS, or DEEDS or OPINIONS by OTHERS 
      no matter how dumb?

And was it not a great PHILOSOPHER who answered “I think, therefore I am”, 
   or precisely, “cogito, ergo sum”?

Are WE then to believe, THOSE who are guided by their EMOTIONS, 
   victims of FATE, their BODY OF WORKS by PATHOS, 
       amounts to NONE?  

Tell that to VOLTAIRE, who wrote of CANDIDE, 
   the epitome of OPTIMISM, and ask what matters most, 
     "is it his BOOK or the PERSON,
       the ACT or the OBSERVATION?"

Or ASK the marathon RUNNER
   was his or her EFFORT all in VAIN
       simply because they were not the WINNER?

YOU ask, WHO are WE at our CORE?
   What does it matter, truly, at the END,
       when,
           in the END,
               WE cannot our imperfect REPUTATION defend?

Is it not said WE are made in His IMAGE,
   that because He loved US first,
      WE can love?

So to Him I put the blame, but not the shame,
   that at my CORE is CHRIST above,
     that without HIM there is no LOVE,
        and without LOVE there is NOTHING to gain.

by Martin Braun
December 29, 2023

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