Monday, January 31, 2011

on the final day of january 2011

Because this is the last of days
Because I have no other way
to this month commemorate
Because I wish to mark it
in time immemorial

Egypt followed Tunisia
in violent, triumphant protest
this January and even on this last day,
people of sand fight on
fed by the flame of one man's body.

The dawn of the end
of a president's first try at greatness
saw itself rising this month,
and Hope is a more weighty word
now that our pockets are empty,
and our leaders still bicker.

This January saw bullets,
devastated families and spreading sorrow
fed by the self-same viciously inappropriate protests
that marred soldiers funerals.
This month the innocent have again been beaten,
and guns have again begot fear.

I will remember this month
as the one that promised me a future
in peacemaking and in languages,
the month that reminded me
that there is no shortage of broken to heal,
no indication that we will learn to listen.


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