We Are The Builders


Our most important projects
Are those we never finish:
We will always be building
friendships.

Sandwich by sandwich.

it's been so long since....
oh, how I long for the those days
swinging in the tree
hanging upside down on that big branch
waiting for the sun to go down so hide and go seek was more challenging
skateboarding with friends and riding our bikes for hours and hours
marbles were the rage and the Boulders were worth some attention
falling down and scraping our knees, shaking it off till we got home
spinning around so fast and furious that you got too dizzy and fell down
oh how I long for those days....
has it really been so looooooong?

Brian Hill - 2020 # 149

I wake up everyday to the sight of the New Normal
Open my ears to the sounds of the news
A black man killed before he could breathe
A child bombed before he could eat
And I think
What is normal?
What is rest?
What is hope?

Normalcy doesn’t sound normal these days
Rest doesn’t sound restful these days
Hope doesn’t sound hopeful these days
And I wish they did anyway

I wish writing, making art, cooking,
playing games, short naps, or social media
Were enough to make us forget about
Restless civilizations
These days
Heartless politicians
These days
Senseless discrimination
These days
The failures of the system
These days

I sit with my heart on my hand
Comprehending nothing at all
These days
While chaos all around us ensues
These days
And months seem to go by as quickly as they can
Yet nothing seems to change
Racism is still racism
War is still war
Hate is still hate
These days

And yet we’ve just realized
These days
How much we valued other days
And there’s no longer any returning to
Those days
Cause if it took us a pandemic to realize
How much we’ve failed those who needed us the most
On days
We’ve looked past reality
Just to see what we wanted to see
And believe what we wanted to believe in
That we chose right
That we’d never be able to fear going out
Since we’ve kept ourselves inside our social bubbles
That kept us from seeing
That everyone else had always been suffering
Before these days
I’d rather have
These days

So what is normalcy?
What is rest?
What is hope
To those who couldn’t afford to have those in the first place?

But I’d like to think that we haven’t completely forgotten
Those days
I’d like to think there will be better days
Where we’ll finally be able to settle down all our differences
That we won’t differentiate black from white
That we’ll finally know wrong from right
And we’ll see that days
Are not just days
But everyday struggles for many to live
In a world that hates living so much

So don't just wish these days
Instead help these days
So that others may be able to live their days too
And not just you
Today.

Gone are the days
When laughter was a constant
Gone are the days
When photographs weren’t yellow
Gone are the days
When it was easy to love
Gone are the days
Of promiscuity and senseless passion.

Every moment held with bated breath
Every sunrise led to your morning texts
Every memory I hold of you
A whisper of my love for you
Every minute, every second
Every inch of my sinew and skeleton
Sing songs of love and longing
When I'm not with you.

Your faith unrelenting
Your love uncompromising
Every silence, every kiss
Like a solemn, sweet promise

My love for you tears me and wears me
And makes me anew
It makes me and breaks me
And changes me for you
For the better or for the worse
I will always be true to you
Beyond the end of days.
Always.

Colorful days pouring like snow, winter not but so cold inside
Picking them in baskets of memories, I set a hell fire of love
Let my days burn into ashes, spreading heat to loving dear ones.