Where do we go from here?
Mother returns to an empty house,
the spaces inside crying to be filled
and the quiet scares her
Father closes doors on sleeping angels,
dreading the loneliness of next week
and planning excess to fill the void
Friends debate calls and texts
footing unsure as balance is lost
each tries to find solid ground again
Lovers wait and watch and hold
their hearts within walls,
seeing love slip through their fingers
Anxious, hurting, frightened
we wave false flags of victory
over the ashes of our hope and trust
Families crumble under the weight
of broken promises and kept lies
and injuries never asked to be forgiven
Pain of emotions and thinking
steal color from the sky
and burn the liquid from the eyes
Stereotypes and scapegoats fill the feed
arbitrary lines of Side A or Side B smother the brave and the free
Blocking the exits for thought
no view of a bigger picture
as the blinders are pulled tight
Boundaries multiply exponentially
highlighting divisiveness and
burying brotherly love
Value our diversity becomes scalding
don’t you dare think differently
and our strength becomes frailty
Crushed by disjointedness and
suspicion and drama-fed fears
tourniquet squeezing every breath
Blinded, we thrash about wildly
reaching for any safehold
grasping the tails of sharks
Mistaking the hunter for
beloved rescuer as he
smiles and chews our limbs
And nodding sagely, smugly,
we watch our brethren sink
under the load of our
hemorrhaging condemnation
-KJ Roe
Dreams of Shadow and Light 