The Poet’s Creed/The Rebel’s Reply
A Didactic Guide to Verse and Virtue/
A Challenge to the Poet’s Creed

I. The Call of the Poet

O thou who seek’st to wield the pen,
Attend my words, then write again.
A poet’s craft is not mere art,
But wisdom set in measured part.

Each line must shape, each word must weigh,
No idle breath, no wasteful lay.
For verse, like law, must justice bear,
And truth be girded, bright and rare.

I. The Poet’s Freedom

If I would write, I’ll write my way,
No rules, no chains, no words to weigh.
A Poet’s task is not to preach,
But stretch the limits, push, and reach.

Each line should flow—each thought run wild,
not tamed, not trimmed, not meek nor mild.
For poetry, like wind and sea,
Must move unbound, savage—free.

II. The Weight of Words

Speak not in haste, nor prattle vain,
Lest tongue should forge another’s bane.
A careless phrase, a thought untrimmed,
May wound the heart. Leave light undimmed!

Let metaphors, like rivers, flow,
Yet not unchecked—let meaning grow.
For words, like seed, shall root and rise,
To yield a harvest, foul or wise.

II. The Unchained Word

Let words erupt, let silence break,
For meaning lives in what we make.
A reckless phrase, untrained, un-wrought,
built more worlds than those well-thought,

Let metaphors grow fierce and wide
Let language shift, let rhythms ride.
For words aren’t chains or weights to bear—
They set us loose, they dare, they dare!

III. The Balance of Beauty and Truth

Let beauty shine, but not deceive,
Lest gilded lies make fools believe.
For truth alone gives words their might,
A candle’s flame, a sword of light.

The rhyme may dance, the meter sing,
Yet hollow verse is withering.
A poet’s task is first to teach,
And not mere admiration reach.

III. The Art of Illusion

Truth has its place, but so does dream,
Not all things are just what they seem.
For beauty bends, and lies delight,
And sometimes wrong still feels like right.

Let rhyme enchant, let rhythm shine,
Let nonsense breathe in every line.
A poet’s job is not to teach,
But make us feel the heart to breach.

IV. The Moral Law in Verse
Who sings of virtue, let him live,
For words alone no merit give.
No man may preach of righteous ways,
Then walk himself in sin’s malaise.

For judgment waits on every scribe,
Each pen and scroll, each verse inscribed.
And God, who sees both deed and thought,
Shall weigh the lessons poets taught.

IV. The Unruly Poet

Must every poet live their song?
Who gets to say what’s right—what’s wrong?
The world is flawed, yet still, we write,
Not just of good, but loss and fight.

Who dares to judge what poets tell?
The righteous fall, the sinners sell.
And if there’s justice, let it be—
But don’t demand it here from me.

V. The Consequence of Thought and Deed

What tale thou tell’st, be wise, beware—
Lest folly spread to unaware.
For jest may charm, and wit may glow,
Yet lead a soul where none should go.

The wicked scribe who twists the right,
Shall answer in the coming night.
Yet he who writes with honest hand,
Shall build on rock, shall firmly stand.

V. The Power of Storytelling

What tale is false, what tale is true?
What harm in words, what wrong may brew?
For laughter heals, for mockery saves,
For satire cuts, for fiction raves.

A poet’s hand may twist and turn,
But who decides what words will burn?
If fear of fire could shut us down…
No! Let the poet wear the crown.

VI. The Eternal Song

The poet’s gift is more than fame,
More than the world’s uncertain claim.
They serve a cause, both just and high,
To point toward God, to lift the eye.

For words may pass, and tongues may cease,
Yet truth shall stand, and bring release.
Write, then, with wisdom, bold and true,
And let thy verse thy soul renew.

VI. The Poet’s Legacy

The poet’s work is not to bow,
Not serve the past, nor save the now.
We write to break, we write to stir,
We write to make the new occur.

For words may last or fade away,
But we are here to disobey.
So write with fire, wild and free,
Let our words break chains, just be.