Held down and eaten

Our eyes met but we did not make contact.
You watched me move,
Was I trying to escape
Or was it just the last drops
Of nerve juice working their way out?

I have now become
The dinner you cannot eat,
The wine you will not drink.
Something has gone wrong
For you,
Something beyond your control.

And now you need someone to blame.
But before you do find them,
Know this of me;

I am here, this is not symbolic.
I am not a metaphor.
My situation is not representing
Anything other than what it is,
And I am this and this only;
Further from home
Than you can comprehend
And losing the light fast.

Do not judge them for this.
Do not lay blame for this
At the feet of one race.

We look to others and say how
Barbaric they are
Compared to us.
This is all we ever think
Of those we know nothing of.

Slight and dashed

Stood still, as if waiting,
We notice the first rays of summer sun
Carried across the branches of trees,
And the backs of birds,
And offered up gently
To our eyes.

And in this, oh calmest of lights,
I am there again,
Sitting gently still in your past,
And yet, where are you for me?

The echoes of children laughing
Are sewn into memory.
Each stitch a new, bright color,
They are swimming, dancing,
And more brave than they will ever know.

With the passing of times comes fear,
But alongside it comes love,
Maturing as we do.

Upwards, away from what makes us afraid.
Take flight, and with the hummingbirds,
Make music of our fear,
And let this sun carry the tune
As we carry its light on our backs.