Mother Earth's Hurricane

Cursed with the gift of melanin in this world I must wander

Unsure of what’s to come, I walk as I ponder.

I pass a school of children pleading for their lives,

robbed of the ability to attend prom.

Gifted with tearful screams and lonely cries.

Stricken with grief I am, but being black I’m familiar with pain.

The kind for 400 years that leaves on your soul an eternal stain.

I trudge along and drag my feet, right, left, right.

I pass a clinic that says closed for forever, not just for tonight.

Abandoned due to interference, I’m taken aback.

Without lifting a hand to women, bodies are clearly under attack.

As I fix my coat I must continue on my path

Feeling as if in this world, I’m seen as last

Or maybe less than, for on my path my eyes meet a sight.

10 cops vs 1 subdued black man, but they’re screaming “don’t put up a fight”

You know how this movie ends, slow singing and flower bringing.

Families forever broken, for racism was the tune the officers were singing.

Have you ever had the life squeezed outta you by those sworn to protect?

A bitter twist of irony, paired with a broken neck.

My path leads me to breakdown and cry, I must take a break on it.

As I sit and reflect, I decide to pen a sonnet.

…

The thoughts hit my head, I then start to write.

What tragedy I’ve seen along the road.

PTSD, harder to sleep tonight.

Grief’s the reward life decides we are owed.

Dory said ‘just keep swimming’ I have tried,

But with pain and a burdened soul, I rest.

Though I’ll be drowned by tears I will have cried

In this land of threats, I’ll always have stress.

Analyze your thoughts for optimism.

Unfortunately you’ll come up empty.

I would hate to embrace pessimism,

But the happenings on my path tempt me.

There is an inflating war on the poor.

Eyes have seen far too much, and yet there’s more.

…

I close my book for my sonnet is done

But it feels as if my internal battle is far from won.

I'm forced to sweep up the confetti with sorrow in my heart.

This world is filled with hurt, no wonder some decide to depart.

If you ask me, Mother Earth’s in the midst of a hurricane,

complete with politicians spewing acid rain.

Pain that seeps through flesh and cuts like a knife,

with loved ones on ventilators, in the fight of their lives.

A storm containing human target practice and panic galore,

poverty, depression, and so much more.

Ferocious winds that blow with reckless abandon

But it’s in the midst of the blitz, that we can seek understanding.

In a world in which hate seems to be the newest craze

our current times can feel like that of a maze,

but we must always remember to push through the phase

in the hopes of what follows a storm which is sunshine, rainbows, and much needed better days.

For I believe life is but a mere play, and we get no encore.

One day this Earth will walk with direction, but till’ then, you and I are forced to wander.