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I think the hardest thing about life these day is the sense of absolute hopelessness, helplessness many of us are feeling. I grew up in a world where we were taught, not only to respect one another, but to care for one another, be there for one another and perhaps most importantly, be willing to sacrifice for one another. Oh, it wasn’t a perfect world by any means but, it was a world that attempted to offer the comfort of camaraderie, shared hopes and dreams, and provide opportunities to rise above difficult circumstances. I am not suggesting the world was fair – it was not but, it made a far greater attempt at fairness than the world we live in today.
Our world, these days, makes me wonder at not only the meaning of humanity but the meaning of life itself. Is not your life as important, as meaningful, as mine? Is not the life of the child dying of hunger in Ghazi or Sudan, as meaningful as mine? Shouldn’t it be? If I am able and you are able to help people in need, people desperate just to live the life they were miraculously granted, should we not be doing so?
Sometimes I feel as if we are all sleepwalking through the days, pretending everything is good, everything is fine, everything will work out. The truth is – not many things get better on their own. Almost everything and everyone needs a little, or a lot, of help to get over the hurdles and past the barriers. I am no longer young or strong. I cannot march in protests or attend rallies, but I can write poems and share those poems with as many people as are willing to read them. I can express my anger and my incredible sadness that we are failing the planet and all living things on it. I can write poems and hurl them out into the universe hoping they explode into light, empathy, reaction…
THE OTHER SIDE OF NIGHT
soft
the call of
evening tenuous
the dying cries
of birds seeking
themselves in the safety
of still branches
darkness inching its way
assuaging shades of
gray becoming
the other side of
knowing sunk deep
like seeds enticed by rain in
to saturated soil
hope
growing
towards light
for me…
…for them
darkness
settles impenetrable
night
despoils them leaves
them shivering
in impotent dawns that
cannot
scale vast walls of
absolute despair…
…how do we dare
dwell in
a world
where no
one cares
enough
to demonize the demons
demolish temples
built on
skeletons of those
denied the simple
gift of
living…
…for those
of us who may
extol the stars
imagining as night descends
the dawn
we cannot know
the bare bone
blade of fright
the struggle
for the light
trapped behind
bars that hide
tomorrow even from
prayers…
…life
is not
has never been
was never meant to be
ours for the taking
it
is perhaps
the sleep
death
the waking…
– Susan A. Katz (All rights reserved)
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