Stand Whole

Life is too short for fake handshakes,

For smiles that end the moment backs are turned.

Too short for brother spoken through clenched teeth,

For loyalty rented, never earned.

A handshake should carry weight.

Skin meeting skin with truth between.

Not a contract written with vanishing ink,

Not a welcome masking what is unseen.

I would rather face an honest enemy

Than dine with a friend who counts my fall.

Better a clear “no” that stands its ground

Than a soft “yes” that means nothing at all.

Life is brief.

Too brief to perform affection.

Too brief to applaud betrayal

And call it connection.

Give me fewer hands,

But let them be real.

Hands that stay when storms arrive,

Hands that do not slip when things get hard to feel.

Life is too short for fake handshakes.

If you stand with me, stand whole.

If you walk away, walk clean.

Anything else steals time from the soul.