What to Resist

Resist the urge to implicate your friends,
Congratulating everyone who laughed
When you dispatched the losers on a raft,
Saying, "Bad people will come to bad ends."
That full responsibility depends
On what you meant, you know. Their little craft
Was badly overloaded, understaffed,
And ill-built. I think you should make amends.

Resist also the rash apology,
The calm, familiar words that have no weight
And mean too little. Leave to heads of state
Loud nothings. Stick to rationality
And true proportion. When we put to sea
We knew we would be tested hard by fate.