Footsteps echoed on that path
and strident voices screamed,
yet when I crossed beneath the eaves
not all was as it seemed.

For empty was the entrance
and the corridor beyond.
All that moved within that gloom
were opinions right or wrong.

They flew on wings of torrid air
and cried their thoughts aloft,
a cacophony of scorching sound
and winners missing oft.

I listened to the arguments
debates in endless rounds
circling within that hall
no solutions in those sounds.

Temptation grew within my breast
to join the deafening heights
becoming one with all that air,
a soldier for those fights.

Then came a tread upon the walk,
another just like me
coming to investigate
that loud cacophony.

She stood within the doorway
looking up within that gloom,
then glanced at me with little care
before she left the room.

I followed in explicit wonder
that the shouts she did not feed
and found her kneeling in the garden
tearing out the weeds.

For what is better, I don’t know,
but I did know which I liked
for the noisy heated air inside
did not change the real fight.