Glass Weeds

Glass Weeds

Look at the weeds of the city

Steel and glass growing

Without leaves or flowers

Smothering the lands beneath them

Forcing grass into small plots

Causing it to force a strained life

Growing through cracks in endless concrete

Trees live in cold shade

Sheltered from the sun it needs

Even people suffer

They can no longer see the sky above

The clouds as they drift by

Like the weeds in a meadow

The steel and glass weeds strangle life

Choke it

And makes it struggle

Maybe someday

It will kill all the live below

Maybe

I Can't Smile

I Can’t Smile

Please don’t ask me to smile

I do not feel like laughing

I have too much happening

To feel anything other than pain

As the darkness of hopelessness gathers

There is nothing I can do about it

Even if I wanted to my mind won’t let me

I just want to be left alone for a moment

Alone to try and solve my problems

To try and solve the world’s woes

I know I will not be able to

I truly know that so I will suffer in silence

While those around me smile

I will cry hidden tears

So, please don’t ask me to smile

It just isn’t in me

Mom

Mom

Why did you leave me

I needed you so much

I was just a boy

With a lot of growing to do

You just went to sleep

Without a word

Without a goodbye

But I knew

You didn’t want to go

But, I always knew

That you loved me

No matter what I did

No matter what I said

You were there for me

Even though you are gone

I can hear your voice

I can feel your touch on my shoulder

Mom, I know you are in a better place

Still, I know that you are always with me

Setting in the Western Ocean

Setting in the Western Ocean

The sun has watched me since dawn

It saw my anger

The depression that filled my mind

It saw the mistakes I made

And my fear of living

It gathered my pain within its fire

Carrying it across the sky

When the sun sets over the western ocean

It takes my problems along with it

The moon rises in the east

Bringing the coolness of the night with it

Allowing me to sleep

Taking me into a pleasurable world of dreams

Where my problems no longer exist

It is a place where I can live

Until the moon rests behind the western sea

And the day starts again

Loss of Identity

Loss of Identity

Generation after generation

They shared the land given to them

Children were born

Elders died

All on the land given them in the Dreamtime

Time passed

Unwelcome visitors came to give them aid

They did not ask for the help

They did not need the help

Those people never wanted to change

But change was forced upon them

Schools taught new ways

Erased the lessons of the time before

Those who didn’t change were punished

They were killed for their beliefs

Now, their villages sit quiet

Closed by the people who claimed to help them

The lessons taught by the elders are long gone

The kids no longer play in the bush

The homes of uncounted generations are gone

Stories of the elders are no longer told

Their culture has been destroyed

The people of the village no longer exist

Now, they could use our help

Help to be who they really are

Help to have their land

Their homes

Their culture

Their identities

Finally returned to them

Let Them

Let Them

Let them hate me

Let them kill me

For something I didn’t do

Arrested for what I am

Tried and convicted

I never stood a chance

Let them hate me

Let them kill me

I will not judge them

I will not hold a grudge

Just tie the rope tight

Make sure the knots will hold

I do not want to suffer

For something I didn’t do

I only ask one thing

When I am dead and cold

Take my bones

Carry them back to my home

Bury them under the sun

As it rises over the Great Divide

Just remember

I am not a black man

I am not a white man

I am just a man who died because of hatred