We poets are witnesses to history
as it unfolds before us and most
people don't hear the banging of
drums or the joy of children laughing.
We write our feelings. Most of us feel
too much and suffer because of it
but we are driven to record the
tears and fears and bombs exploding
and screaming of men in trenches  as
they lose limbs or lives. We spell it
out in poems. We offer our souls
to the mob and fear they eat it.