Compunction

involves guilt, self-reproach,
contrition.

It doesn't truly obtain
otherwise---which is to say
that it is an offense
and a lie to announce "I'm driven
by compunction" when
you are actually suffused by

lyrical weltschmerz, which absolves any
one from personal shame.
..........
Resolutely staying open to, and hurting on
behalf of, the world's pageant of evils
is a noble comportment and mode.

Compunction, on the other
hand, is ignoble stabs
of self-loathing and striking
your chest with your own fist.
..........
The word should never
be claimed but
through lips trembling

with real fear, real grief
over one's own failures and malignity.

If you don't feel those things then
shut the fuck up about compunction.