The sound was deafening
The earth griped groaned and grumbled
Beneath their feet
Seconds of mobocracy

Followed by
An eerie silence of confusion
Shock and awe

The sun sat high unnerving
As the dust settled
Exposing the grotesque macabre
That is now their reality

Tear trickled traces speckled with blood seared
Upon muddled faces covered of soot
Stood surreal against the carnage
Unabled to grasp what has happened
Trudges about in symbiotic aloofness

Slowly a crescendo of wails
A wretched affair
Sliced into the mid day air
Sending chills to all within ear

Sirens heard from the distance
Approaches quickly
Adding to the cacophony of sound
An orchestra of pain
Reminiscent of
Dante's Inferno
Rock rescuers to the core

Bodies strewn and dispensed
Lie unrecognizable
Young and old alike
For death does not discriminate

As neighbors extend helping hands
Black and white
Slowly the healing begins
We can breathe again
Live again
Trust again
For surely hate cannot be
Allowed to win

The outpouring of support was astronomical
The love felt was undeniable
People say I'm ideological
But love conquers hate
And that's
Indisputable

There is a voice I hear in my head.

The familiarity of it's demands leaves an ache in my forehead.

It forces me to stand up and try again, and again, and again.

It tells me to reach higher above the clouds and into the galaxies of possibilities or else I will be low into the ground of soiled promises.

It cannot be silenced for it is engrained in every neuron that fires in my brain.

I wonder what would happen if I didn't listen but instead worked at my own leisure in my meadows of thought.

What would become of me?

Would I melt into an unabled thing that trudges along or would I lose the will to create a life that isn't what people see in the future?

Would I become a piece of lint floating through the air and time?

The voice has silenced me with the fear of being without it. It has silenced me with fear of barely skimming the surface of what could be.

The voice doesn't tell me to drown, it tells me to swim even when I want to lie still.

It is the will to keep going.

I am a knight and my armor is loneliness,
I am a killer and my knife is my own pain,
I am a princess and my gown is my web of lies,
I am an angel with clipped wings unabled to fly,
I don't know why I am this way,
I don't know if I'll ever change,
All I know is I'll stay alone,
In my padded room of hate

top brain forward eyes severed diluted
down mind feared essence ignored
star gaze rays smogged polluted
connect connect widen the gap
flow flow hand meets ice-water
growing numbness crackling bones
crack sip sigh Relax

unattended, withering, left to rot
chime chime signs direct where
why lark fly vines hide
the corner
beads dangle I move them
and they fall back into
they fall back into
their places
stages lights tread lightly across
and bow be sure to bow they like that
humming bird wings on twilight canvas
blurs blurs the paints and hues
dreams and views dreams and views
severed sinews, unabled motion
crack sip sigh Relax
lean back rising tide blanket and jaw slack