Better Not Chance It

Maybe they know something you
Don’t, you think, have thought often,
Headed in one direction

For the door you were sure of,
Only to start to waffle
When everyone else you saw

Went off the opposite way.
It’s not so much your desire
To conform, as it’s your fear

Of being horribly wrong,
And it’s not so much your fear
Of being horribly wrong

As of being the one fool
Who was wrong, when everyone
Else was right. If everyone

Is wrong together, well there’s
Humor and comfort in that.
But being the only one

Right, even, can’t compensate
For being alone and wrong,
Being the one right risks worse

Than being the one wrong fool.
You waver, not just a sheep,
But in the shrewd awareness

Your flock can be murderous.
Never give yourself away,
Fool who might know more than us.