Can you read what you read?
I'm sure you can and there's no need to ask.
But it's weird.
Feeling through symbols.
Understanding symbols.
Writing symbols.
Combining symbols to make sense.
But some combinations are wrong.
Making sounds for symbols.
Saying the symbols correctly.
Different accents for symbols.
Drawing symbols, making them look pretty.
Fonts for symbols.

Imagine. We are ruled by systems of symbols.

One night
Two eyes with
Trickling tears
For countless regrets

Five fingers of a hand that
Seeks the proper words to write
Seven nights of trying but just
Ate those words back

years back we were defined by the color of our skin

we thought it ended with all the martyrs who died for a better world

millions think the very earth we are destroying is utopia

everything filtered by a sole lens

only showing what they want us to see

when millions die simply to end up as a statistic

names?

faces?

no.

numbers.

I use numbers to grade
Your varying range
From strange to deranged
Until you're a number in my brain
And I become numb to all the pain
That's the total sum of your game

I am in heaven
When you turn it up to eleven
You give me a five
To keep me in line
You tell me I'm average
I tell you you're savage
You're no longer my hero
Once you hit zero
You fall off the scale
After you bail

There is no number
You fall under
After I hear your thunder
And I can't feel your heat
I grade you incomplete
Or maybe that's me
Thinking of what we could be