Are we responsible for what we understand?

Is it a baser imperative driven
with intent, or more visceral
a thing that rears itself
from deep inside the gut
and insists on being heard
when we see the need of others
go unheeded as we watch and
clench into the body of a fist
that won’t be thrown

is it not so much more than just
desire that drives the outrage
that needs to breathe outside the
moment that it was born into
when we are moved to act only now
the threat ignored is at our door
and it’s too late to wonder why
the clenched body of a fist that
once was willed to act but didn’t
is now being watched unheeded.