Symbols & Gestures

Symbols & Gestures

just because
symbols and gestures
sometimes
mean and amount
to something
doesn't negate
that most of the time
they 
don't

just because
symbols and gestures
sometimes amount 
to something
doesn't mean
the laws of probability
don't still apply

just because
symbols and gestures
sometimes
mean and amount
to something
doesn't mean
yours
like the other 
99%
don't
ring
hollow
too

just because
your symbols and gestures
feel good
and righteous
to you
doesn't mean
like most
of the rest
they aren't
as shallow
or flat-out 
false
as all 
the rest

perhaps
that's the seductive
power
of symbols and gestures
to obfuscate
the hard realities
of inconvenient
objective
probabilities
in exchange
for the validation
and justification
of the goodness
of the objectively hollow
yet personally dense
symbols and gestures
of our righteousness

perhaps
that's the seductive 
power
of symbols and gestures
to offer
a sense of solidity
to an otherwise
vacant and vapid
soul

and just because
your gestures and symbols
satiate
doesn't mean
you're not being played
by someone
or something
who knows
better than you
what they're offering
when your soul
salivates
like pavlov's dogs
at whichever bell
of symbols and gestures
they
ring