"Life is Wholly Precious"

In this world today, information rules.

Tiny charged atoms push electrons,

race across skies unseen

fill my screen

with data translated to truth.

Eyes, mind + heart consumed

by images and reflections

Who we are today --

Tragic.

10,000 lives lost

to turbulent plates, shifting, gritty --

tectonic plates that send

our brothers and sisters to a rocky grave.

Sorrow.

Cases sent to a justice system,

reminders of more lost lives

runners caught in guerrilla war,

nails in a pressure pot --

we are those nails.

Innocent people, last breath stolen --

murdered by a lost soul

bent on causing holy terror

for no reason but confused insanity.

Was it a movie they watched,

or a movie they played in his mind?

Justice sought, but is it ever found?

My hometown aches with pain,

suffering of three generations plus more

run deep into the blood passed down.

Pain unspoken, no voice

for a people have been muted far too long.

Injustices ignored, yet glorified

by a TV series drama

But no, this is real --

My brothers and sisters

I remember playground love

where songs of innocence

pumped in our hearts.

I remember holding hands

as little black boys

and little brown girls --

when the biggest infraction was

a kiss on the lips.

Today my world is filled

with death and hurt so vast

it echoes in aftershocks

blood on our streets

sting of acrid sweat on our tongues.

The pain haunts us all,

injustice lingers like heavy ash,

after the volcano has long erupted.

Today, my brothers and sisters clean

streets littered with the evidence of suffering

But how do you mop up 

hearts heavy with hatred?

How do you flush out

sewers seeping with malice?

Baltimore proclaims

‪#‎blacklivesmatter‬,

And to those not black or brown of skin,

search within

for that innocent love

to agree that 

Life is wholly precious.