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| AI-generated image by Nightcafé for The New Verse News |
I
I do not want to live
in a kill or be killed world.
It is not refreshing
that for once
my people are killers
and not just killed
and if they stop killing
they will once again
be killed, and if
they keep killing
they may kill the current killers
only to create new killers.
II
I want to live
in a love and be loved world
in a forgive and move on world
that makes space
for my people
and in which my people
make space for all.
There is no pathway
to this world
that I can see
and many who have tried
to pave that path have been killed.
III
The sun comes up through the smog.
The killers and the killed
don’t stop to say good morning
Sunlight tries to enter
their eyes, ears and hearts
through closed portals
and trauma blocks the path
over and over, as it has
always.
IV
The grieving mothers remember
God is the power
to see, hear, and listen
with all our might, soul and being.
But as the sun rises
both sides toil at their killing
and the babies starve
and the girls are raped
and the world picks sides
and accusations abound
and no one sees the sun rise
shining its sweet rays through the smoke,
and no one lets in the light
that burns off hatred and sorrow
and tries every day to clean the world.
Sharon Neubauer is a poet, singer, Yoga teacher, and skier. Her poetry chapbook A Work of Body: A Body of Work was published in 2023 by Finishing Line Press.
