When my sister sits on the train
She loves people watching
And she watches the murals go by
Like sunsets and rises
Of new days
My sister does not dwell on the tracks
When we walk to the train.
They terrify her
She runs past them,
She is anxious and evening and morning.
The train is a path to the next day
I have never seen someone dwell
On the train tracks
Waiting for a train to come
To dissolve the path to the next day
And leave them dead
But I wonder
If that one who passed yesterday
Was once terrified of train tracks
And if they ever rode the train
Before there were murals
On a path to the next day.

You,
Are my brother.
You,
Are my sister.

You are my tribe,
My people,
My Family.

To see the day,
Witnessing the ways we hate each other,
Thrusts a knife through my heart, and out the other side.

The weight of the world falls upon us when we see the loss of our brothers, our sisters,
Born of the same blood,
As you, and I.

I am not scared,
I am sad,
I am disappointed to see the ways,
The walls we build that separate us from the other.

There is no other,
Only Us.

You,
Are my brother.
You,
Are my sister.
You are all my family,
And my Blood.

To see the blood spilled for the sake of nothing,
Forsaken are we to each other.

Come together,
You and I.
Come, my sister,
Come, my brother.

We shall stand,
Hand in hand.
until the day we fly.

~Robert van Lingen

To the girl who lies awake
Who cannot remember a time
She wasn't crying
She wasn't aching
She wasn't struggling
To breathe, to love, to live
To the girl
Who cannot see
Through the broken glass
Thick with the words of others
Who has been called
Nothing
Worthless
Annoying
Or sensitive
To the girl who has been told
You are not strong
You are not smart
You are not capable
To the girls who have been told
To keep their mouths shut
To obey
To conform
To stop fighting
To the WOMEN
Because we should stop
Calling you girls
We should stop limiting your potential
Minimizing your pain
Generalizing your struggles
To the WOMEN
With voices
And opinions
And emotions
To the WOMEN
Who fight day in and day out
To the WOMEN
Who have been told
Your pain is less than another's
Your story is not important
Your testimony is not
Enough
To all of the women
Who have seen and felt and wanted
Who have loved and hated
Who have been hurt
Oppressed
And smothered
To the women who remember
The very last day of their girlhood
With painful clarity
To the women who hear us
And cannot speak
To the women who have been waiting
For this movement
This is for the women who have watched us
Screaming at the top of our lungs
Fighting for this moment
For change
For a new world where our daughters
May walk with their heads held high
Where our sisters
May march like warriors
And KNOW
That there is fire in their blood
Where our mothers
May watch us manipulate our destiny
And carve out our dreams among the stars
So the we may sit in thrones
Alongside them
Because we are mighty
We are fierce
And we are where we are today
Because of the sacrifices they made
The women before us
Suffering
Despairing
And fighting
We will not give up
We will not give in
This is to all of my sisters
Women who feel the same calling
Who feel the defiance
Burning in their eyes
In the faces of their oppressors
This is to my sisters
Who feel they do not have the voice
Or the strength
Or the will
To keep fighting
We will fight for you
We will carry you
We will be your voice
We are no longer alone
And fear no longer has a say here
Time's up
And the time is now
We will rip the muzzles from our mouths
And we will scream
Until the streets run red
With the truth we live
Every
Single
Day
We will not be silenced
We will not be stopped
We will ferociously
And furiously
And fearlessly
Fight
The bonds will break
The earth will rattle beneath our feet
And we will bring a change with us
That will ripple through time
So that our granddaughters may sing
A song full of freedom
This is to all of you
A promise
An invitation
I will fight for you
My voice will join the millions of others
And I will stand
Until my legs fail
And my body crumbles
And even then I will still cry out for you

Silly,
how they see potential
where I never could.
everywhere I hope to be
on Earth,
but it is too late
my potential died
as well as me.

Silly, how tears
only fall down
your cheeks.

***** Cat ***** Cat
Want to drink some Milk
Yes Sir, Yes Sir
Three Bowls Full

One for Myself
One for my Kitten
And one for my lazy sister
Who sleep for the day.

drawn to my sister planet
we tear out our hairs
the fiery sorts of dissent
into the depths of my apathy
climactic orbit in yearning
pushed against your clamour
i long to be obliterated
dispel this feeling of unfeeling
remove me

Yes, I forgave you and asked forgiveness
Twenty-four years and more ago.
Yet, you continued to despise.
Metamorphosing into an Unforgivable.
Hater. Destroyer of family.
You made sure it hurt me.
I don't like what you did.
It was ugly. It was not called for.
I wanted peace. So I created it.

Here, this is yours.
It's your very own universe!
To create all the havoc you desire.
Way over there! Far from mine.
When your venom is spewed
And your heart is as light as the Dove's feathers
I will open my doors in peace.
Welcoming you in for herb tea
with a spot of honey and a few biscuits too.
Maybe, even some laughter and fun.
It is all up to you.

Remember to present yourself truly
Setting what you have twisted right.
I pray for you to develop courage
Needed to tell all that you have done.
Yet, I am not hopeful.
Won't you prove me wrong?
I hope so, dear sister. I hope so.

lightning is important.
                                                                                                                 age 4:
i watched you fall lifeless right in front of me,
the lightning and rain outside shines through the windows,
your eyes go black,
body completely still,
my oldest sister,
my second mother,
taken from me.

i cried, screamed, begged for you to come back.
no reply.

i stood as your body was taken away,
buried,
taken out of sight
for eternity.

                                                               ­                                                age 12:
torn apart.
it took 8 years to divide us,
but the strike of the lightning
cut layers deep,
it was permanent.

family is something that should be held sacred,
but it had been 8 years since we were a family.

now we would have to be two families.
                                                                ­                                               age 18:
i get a call.

drive through the rain and lightning,
only to see you were already gone.
another life in front of my eyes, taken.
another body that would soon leave my sight,
and never return.

My hero.
Dad,
i wish i knew,
i wish i had done more,
i wish i could stop wishing and just do it.

we all begged once again,
come back.
why.

Why.
                                                                ­                                                
                                                                ­                                                   now:
i watch the lightning outside my window,
the flash shows strength.

the strength you must show everyone,
you must use to protect everyone.

but when you live for everyone else
and everyone is gone,
who is left to live for.

you.
how do you learn to live for yourself,
you've never done this.

you have to try,
otherwise you won't be
living.

Watch the lighting:
imitate the strength,
the power,
the force,
the persistence,
nothing stands in the way.

you got this.