From Conviction to Fall

 From Conviction to Fall
In the absence of meaning,
We cling to conviction.
We assert certainty,
Crucify dereliction.
 
Can’t stand ambiguity
Which meaning might embrace--
Because meaning has depth
Conviction often can’t face.
 
Conviction is just a skin--
A surface that protects
The real substance below
From what corrodes and infects.
 
Below is what is complex:
What is hard to define—
Mined from reality;
What we can’t simply refine.
 
But simplistic convictions,
Lead to quick eviction
Of true contradictions
That defy the non-fiction.
 
Nothing rises from the core.
Nothing beats us, makes us sore.
It is the quaint and the simple,
That we worship and adore.
 
And when meaning is simple,
It isn’t meaning at all;
It is a childish fable,
Setting us up for a fall.