Our Loss - a poem

There is so much pain
so much pain
the blood and tears fall
like rain

we run to the alters
of self to lean on
and find them disfigured,
dismembered ... gone
we lift up our idols of
self-love and plans
they crumble and shatter
and scatter like sand
made of paper and sugar
they submit to the fires
of hatred and greed
and our deeper desires

time only for ego
for our tastes and our toys
without a pause or a thought
about whom it destroys
not just little faces
in places far off
but the neighbor or sister
you batter and scoff
no man is an island
entire of itself
regardless of power, of
talent or wealth

.

so we raise up our leaders
and look to our heroes
to lift our spirits
and brighten tomorrows
but the red cape is empty
it never does land
and the lifeboat lies pitted
and cracked on the sand

our heads still held high, though
in refuse we wallow
with pride on our tongues...

refusing to swallow