by Jim Kelly
 |
| Cartoon by Gary. A Huck |
When death darkens
the occupied space
of the political theater,
and the curtains,
somber and heavy,
are stitched with memories
of acid speech,
the audience pauses.
Not because the performance
was noble.
Not because every act
deserves applause.
Not because every wound
has healed.
The record remains.
The speeches remain.
The injuries,
the divisions,
the grievances,
remain.
Yet death changes
the lighting.
For a moment,
The spotlight shifts
from ideology
to mortality.
From victory
to loss.
From power
to the frailty
shared by every human being.
There will be time
for historians
to sort through the record.
There will be time
for critics
to weigh the consequences.
There will be time
for citizens
to debate the legacy.
But in the first shadow
cast by death,
when kindness is impossible,
Silence may be
the most humane response.
Not surrender.
Not agreement.
Not absolution.
Only the recognition
that death
has already spoken
the final line.
the occupied space
of the political theater,
and the curtains,
somber and heavy,
are stitched with memories
of acid speech,
the audience pauses.
Not because the performance
was noble.
Not because every act
deserves applause.
Not because every wound
has healed.
The record remains.
The speeches remain.
The injuries,
the divisions,
the grievances,
remain.
Yet death changes
the lighting.
For a moment,
The spotlight shifts
from ideology
to mortality.
From victory
to loss.
From power
to the frailty
shared by every human being.
There will be time
for historians
to sort through the record.
There will be time
for critics
to weigh the consequences.
There will be time
for citizens
to debate the legacy.
But in the first shadow
cast by death,
when kindness is impossible,
Silence may be
the most humane response.
Not surrender.
Not agreement.
Not absolution.
Only the recognition
that death
has already spoken
the final line.
Jim Kelly is a California poet whose work explores democracy, race, caregiving, and social justice. His poetry has appeared in Litro Magazine, Urban Pen Magazine, Urban Poems, and other literary publications. He is the author of the chapbooks The Quiet Witness: Civic Poems of Power, Memory, and Conscience and Caregiving Through Poetry.