alien nation

…of course it pains me.
to know that others before me,
others with me,
and others after me
will die
for no lesser
a crime
than simply looking like me. to see your brothers and sisters,
those blood tied and not,
blood stained and shot, down around you
by those whose purpose you’ve been told is to protect the bodies that were warm before
they came. and…maybe even more sadly, brothers who could’ve been
in another life, enemies in this one.
over material items they
take pains
to
prove
are worth more to them than the mildly polluted air lungs breathe,
the quiet beat of
air maxed feet.
in 'our' streets, but..will never
really be.

it’s the hypocrisy that gets me.

it hurts all the more when those who are meant to
love you, hate you
and those to protect, hurt you.
if they stood up and said “f**k you all!” and declared war,
i’d prefer it more,
cos then,
we might lose
but at
least,
We’d all know where we stood.
i wouldn’t need to observe you with distrust, in fear that you might
smile here, but knife me there
while my eyes are averted towards the vision i see, given to me
by those before.
our forefathers/foremothers
which you claim to
help me reach.
i am
the
child
my ancestors hoped would be the beneficiary of their suffering. If only they knew. granted, change doesn’t happen overnight.
but how many children’s children of children will fall trying to pass a dream onto theirs, before we take time to wonder if these iron links will never end.
with a call to war,
then, maybe
the unequivocal stance of ‘you versus me’
would grant impetus to take action that will
truly advance
my shade of blue through to the clouds into the
golden yellow of sunshine.
maybe then,
l’esprit de corps between us would be sufficiently strong
in the face of a common
but more importantly,
overt
enemy, and we would become holistic once again.
maybe.

We were like that once.

during and immediately after we
got free.

ask me if it takes shackles to bring us together.