He took what was
Most precious to her.
Pried it out
Of her cold, dead hands.

It was more
Than just a life taken.
It was the life before her,
And the life after.

Cast away, was her name
And shamed, her children were.
Drunk on pride
The man danced where her body lay.

Danced by the fire
And by the blood.
Built his cities
Upon death and decay.

It was more
Than just a life taken.
It was her identity
And eventually his as well.

It will be the end of the man
One day,
When he finally sees the truth
When he can finally feel the pain.

When his children have forgotten
Who they are,
Because his nation was built
Upon another.

And the world hates us now,
But they will cry for us then.
The day we fall
And start all over again.

Leave me here,
In this room with no color.
In this room where the clock keeps ticking
and the television only plays static.

Here I sit in silence,
Nothing to comfort me.
No food to eat and nothing to drink.
No way out, just one way in.

I lay with my head down on a cold table,
below the air conditioner vent.
There's either a dozen pair of eyes staring,
or six people turning away.

If they could, my hands would reach out.
Yet I lack the vigor and I lack the strength.
Seems I've left myself at home,
Because I'm not entirely here.

Please see me.

Not the person I appear to be.
Not the one you see walking isles,
The one who grins, who looks at you with those doggy eyes
Who apologizes, who cowers.

Please see me.

Not my skin. Not my hair.
Please don't call me something I'm not.
Please understand that I love your people
But I come from somewhere else.

Please understand me.

As I have come to understand you,
This place, these people,
These ways and the talk.
Please try, as I have tried countless times before.

I want to see the Earth
for what it truly is.
To observe humanity,
as we have observed ourselves for generations,
through all of time,
so that I may truly understand what it means to be me.

I wish to see ourselves
as we truly are.
To see our cities and nations
as functioning aspects
Of a single society,
the entity that is the world.

Not as worlds in their own rights,
conflicting from the dawn of civilization
to the end of time.
Not as we are now,
Fighting with hate when we should be
communicating with admiration.

I choose to understand our differences
rather than argue them
or worse yet, ignore them.
What could be done,
In a world where we
at least try to understand.

Humanity’s biggest flaw
is humanity itself,
and yet it is our greatest asset.
Look at this place that we have built;
and imagine what we could do
if we do it together.

What happened
to this place that once stood tall?
Served as a palace of intellectual growth,
or perhaps a gateway from one place to another time,
         one world to another realm,
                          connecting minds and hearts.

Famous for providing us with another perspective,
a different outlook on life with which to compare ours.
Now covered in vines and plagued by broken windows,
it’s been reduced to nearly ashes and faded footsteps.

Frozen fingers and frozen toes,
Frozen eyes with somewhere to be.
Foggy windows gently kissed by gently falling rain,
Creating a presence in a fallen city,
A long-forgotten grandeur.

Packed into cars, hovering above and looking down,
Measuring yards and counting row-houses
As though the view above gave us control,
Could possibly help us understand.

Soon it became routine.
The hum-buzz grinding of the metal hitting the tracks,
The same disapproving faces of a race in constant motion.
Just a matter of putting on my face and getting it done.

It was a sight of something different,
Opposite of everything I had ever known.
The truth I witnessed every day
Left me amazed and slightly dizzy.

So with frozen fingers and frozen toes,
These frozen eyes venture forth.
Coming down from my high bearings,
Perhaps the city creates a presence within me.

This feels like the kind
Of dark, warm night
When you'd leave us
Forever.

This feels like about the time
You'd start crying
Begging, pleading,
Swearing you've had enough.

I've seen you cry
I've seen you angry
I've seen you point fingers
At everyone else.

And so this feels like the kind of moment
You'd start blaming us
Again,
Like always.

This feels like the kind of disaster
That would finally make you give up
And you would finally leave us,
Forever.

This feels like the kind of weather,
With our broken, unkempt, and unlit house,
When you would hate us
Forever.

So yes, this feels like the kind of
Calm, unforgiving night
When you'd point a gun at your head
And leave us, forever.