without restraint
the living
become
the dead
a pregnant mother
becomes
a police shooting
her children
become
orphans
without restraint
the orphans
become
the living dead
their mother’s
touch
a memory
wrapped
in tomorrow’s hate
and
tomorrow’s hate
grows
without
restraint
life’s dried out remnants
inside a hard hollow shell
like heartless people
whatever god’s yours
i ask that your prayer is
god save the people
nightfall
the last
call
for humanity
having
been served
a brew
of corporate greed
so
intoxicating
that men
and
women
were drawn
to
strange beds
only
to find
in morning’s light
stained sheets
stained
with the blood
of
the innocent
children
gasping
for
one breath
of
untainted
tomorrows
children
brought
into the fray
with a promise
of
a better world
now
given
only
discarded
passions
it had been years
since he’d
shared a room
with a man
indeed
for 50 years
she had been
by his side
each night
how
clearly
he could still hear
her turning pages
as she read
late
into
the night
sometimes
dozing off
with the book
opened
and
propped upright
as if reading
with
closed eyelids
any attempt
at removing the book
garnered words
of denial
of sleeping
then
the shuffling of more pages
before the nightlight
was permitted
to sleep
however
his new roommate
preferred
old black and white movies
with
the sound set
to compensate
for the hearing aids
so neatly
stored in his desk
so as to save them
for
a special occasion
no doubt
his own funeral
so many changes
not only roommates
but
once great books
provided the escape
from life’s harshness
but now
it was
sleeping
more preciously
dreaming
for in dreams
you can be wherever
you wish
and
these constraints
of life
are
mere delusions
so
there’s no need
to
discern
night
from
day
except
when
she
comes
to
visit
times move so slowly
when awaiting an arrival
so swift when they’re gone
the stone that struck him
was from the hands of a child
with a single shot
revenge was complete
the child’s blood filled the parkway
mingling with tear gas
wails from a mother
broke through the dark night’s chaos
an unanswered prayer
no apologies
for blind hate feels no remorse
so another grave
hewn from the rocky soil
will give rise to tears
tears watering blooms of hate
where a young child stands
family of the fallen one
now it’s death’s cycle
eternal eye for an eye
a nation’s history
