War Paint

When cries are cut by the sounds of gas,
When voices beg into the pavement before they pass;
When two can kneel, one on a field, the other on a neck,
And it’s given no mind at the sanctity of a check-

We shed tears.

When illness takes hold and truth disappears,
When the house sunders and folds divided,
bullets, bombs, and curfews replaces parks and dinner plates,
In these harder to say truly ‘United’ States,

We shed tears.

But soon we’ll look up from the dirt,
and those mud-scribed tears become our war paint,
it will dry and crack with roars
that will penetrate any House, any Tower – a voice for all ears.

We are Here.

(Inspired by the words of Amanda Nicholson.)