The Obvious

Darby Riley

December 14, 2022

When you come, as you soon must, to the streets of our city,

Mad-eyed from stating the obvious, …

from Advice to a Prophet, by Richard Wilbur (1961)

What is it that keeps us 

from seeing the obvious?

We can’t afford to flirt

with nuclear war. Stop 

burning coal, oil, methane.

Lying kills community.

Earth’s bounty is finite.

All of life is a web.

Truth comes from evidence.

The village is on fire.

We are failing to act.

We party in despair

still hoping to be saved.

Darby Riley, a native San Antonian, has been married to Chris Riley since 1971 and they have three grown children and a granddaughter, age 6. He has hosted a monthly poetry writing workshop for over 25 years. He practices law with his son Charles and is active in the local Sierra Club.