Clean Saliva From A Smelling Mouth (revised)

Will holiness remain trapped,
a prisoner in the custody of the tongue?

We scrub the mouth,
but greed still clings to the tongue,
envy festers deep in the gums,
as if words, like teeth,
can rot from within.

The ear listens, decent and fair,
welcoming every sound without judgment,
but sentencing the mind
to a life of doubt.

Through her, truth and lies
force their way into innocence—
both pressing their case
before a bewildered intellect.

The Eye and the Nose
are dragged to the witness stand,
trembling as they confess:
“I saw it,”
“I sensed it.”

The mind, overwhelmed, collapses—
first unconscious,
then slipping into doubt,
later waking fully aware.

Now it begins its work:
to evaluate, criticize,
and endlessly scrutinize
the fragile line
between belief and deception.

Therefore, making change inevitable,
making sense imperfectly perfect,
making humans completely incomplete,
making life as old as new.