BETWEEN HER AND I

TRIGGER WARNING⚠️

-extremely rough content ahead-

I saw a child today, starved lying beside her mother, flys picking at the body.

And I saw a bear give birth to her cubs in the winters snow. 

And I saw a business man beating a hooker to death in his Vegas hotel room, Hugo boss shoes stained red with her blood.

And I saw a meteor shower from the summit of Kilimanjaro. 

And I saw a baby baptized by a priest who had molested the mother when she was a child.

And I saw a bean stalk grow.

And I saw a child lose their limb in a Mattel toy factory near the shen Jin province. 

And I saw an iceberg fall into the sea as whales swam past undisturbed by the scene. 

I saw a homeless man freeze to death in the winter streets of Chicago, clutching an unsmoked rock.

I heard a dolphin sing to his lover beneath the glow of fluorescent algae.

I heard a child scream from a wooden shelter in the woods, no mother, no father, just alone.

I heard a breeze rushing through the leaves of an autumn forest along the coast of Michigan’s Great Lake. 

I heard a bone break and a jaw snap in an Iranian prison camp, a final breath and a clenched cheek because he wouldn’t speak.

I heard a plum drop from atop a tree to the bottom of a ravine rolling slowly, gently crushing leaves until it softly descended every crag and tree resting comfortably beneath the forest floor, green with moss and ivy.

I heard that final tone ringing in the ear of a father who lost his daughter to cancer before she turned seventeen the IV dripping with serene regularity.

I heard a moose bugle for his bride antlers scratching against his hide.

I heard the tremulous rumble of a stomach starved emptied of everything a school girl needs, her classmates were mean as scenes repeated in her memory she was watching the mirror one last time, looking at this body she sought to save from every fattening calorie as she began purging with the water running so none would hear her deed.

I heard a rock fall from a cliff and splash into the river below, sinking, sinking, sinking with gurgling bubbles rising ever so slow.

I heard a jock sling a slur in one word and perpetuate rape culture.

I heard not a single word from anybody.

I heard the fly undone, muffled screams until the deed was done, stifled whimpering, skittering shoes, slammed door and the shivering gasps of a girl abused. 

I heard the music of a jay birds song singing in the trees at sunlights dawn.

I heard the crackling of fire burning bodies.

I smelled the ash of lightning struck trees.

I smelled the tumors of puss filled wounds spilling forth hemorrhages, far to many for her age. 

I smelled the buttercup flowers in a meadow clearing.

I smelled the cheap perfume of a hooker calling for lovers at noon.

I smelled wet dew precipitating down the brow of a mountain face, fog whispering by with a hint of pine.

I smelled the burns of a refugees body smoldering beneath an electrified fence.

I smelled the delicious plump raspberries of mid January.

I smelled the piss filled shower of a locker room floor where a boy had lost his virginity unwillingly to a teammate the night before.

I smelled the salt filled air of a California coastline before inhabitants of time had committed a single crime. 

Did we make a mistake my dear?

I fear our children crushed the dreams we dreamed for them.

I once thought their future secure but now I’m not so sure.

Perhaps the children can be preserved.

Perhaps they can conserve their energy and feed everybody equally.

Perhaps, but that equality gap is about to snap and none will be able to divide or amend what has lended itself to disparity. 

I fear your see their fortune so bleakly.

Let me speak the truth of what I see.

A magical beauty in their creativity, a cleverness and ability to overcome every obstacle and tragedy. 

Do not succumb to their adversity.

Rather inspire them that they may achieve the fullness of their vision and explore the extent of their capacity like you and me!