The ***** children in the street
have no shoes for their tiny feet
Their mothers cry in nightly pain
hoping for a little rain
Shaving heads to avert the lice
eating handfuls of wild grain rice
Dressed in rags that cover their skin
to ignore these kids is quite the sin
Feed their bellies and give them hope
make them strong and able to cope
Teach compassion and how to give
give them all a reason to live

I think sunset is the most dangerous time
When we all stand staring at colors in the sky
Forgetting
The sunrise to new reds, pinks, and oranges

The blue sky is forgotten
And the way the rays beat upon our skin
Harming
Our lips leaving cracks and parched tongue

Do we remember the swaying grass?
The boulders that lay along the path
Blocking
Us from the cool relief of the ocean

Our muscles burned with new adventure
The wind kissed us and we kissed back
Wishing
For a little more time and a little less

No one thinks of the birds' conversation
Their brief melodies spawned passion
Developing
Attachment or shedding what little we had

I still remember the blues of the sky
But now our shadows stretch longer
Losing
The feeling of noon's light and heat

I still feel the sandman's kiss in my eyes
The subtle and hopeful beginning
Rising
Eagerly so that I may see the sunset

Forty-nine flags furled,
Tears reflecting every hue,
On faces confusion swirled,
How could this loss be true?

Forty-nine families cry,
Looking for a reason in the pain,
Don't look where the bodies lie,
For how could they be slain?

Forty-nine sparks doused in water red,
With metal flying through the air,
Their last thoughts of dread,
But could the metal care?

Forty-nine lost to delusion,
Forty-nine lost to hate,
It still seems like an illusion,
Can we control our fate?

Forty-nine reasons not to become,
Like a homophobic man,
Who couldn't see the sum,
Of all the hearts that love and can,

Be better than that man.