Welcome to Poem of the Week, an annual feature on this blog that celebrates National Poetry Month. Every Sunday, in the month of April, start the week off with an uplifting poem and discovery why poetry still matters.
I wrote this poem in response of the 2016 Presidential Election, however, I feel this poem is still prevalent particular to the times we live in now and I wanted to reshare for the last Poem of the Week of 2022. Although it appears to be pessimistic, it does present some hopeful beginnings and the fact that we have to work even harder to get there:
In a matter of hours
In a matter of one day
Our hope burned out
The rights we hold dear to our hearts
Disappeared like a ghost in the night
The young’s eyes, filled with exuberance and innocence
Look up into our own, asking us “Why?”
“Why did we do this?”
Our silence speaks volumes
As the dark cloud hovers
In a matter of hours
In a matter of one day
The King’s dream
The stem of our fight for change
Our cause for hope
A laughingstock amongst arrogant men
The lady in green
A symbol of freedom and dreams
Now shivers in fear
Uncertain of what is to come
The flag, waving proudly in the heavens
Lost all meaning
In a matter of hours
In a matter of one day
The media says “Accept”
The media say “We must unite”
The media does not say “We’re sorry”
The idolized, used, benefitted
Not once seeing the truth
The trust has gone
The pain lingers
In a matter of hours
In a matter of a day
I feel lost
I am angry
I feel empty
My country is gone
My heart is shattered
This heavy cloud has told me
It’s not okay that I’m me
It’s not okay that my family are here
My friends are different when we are one in the same
Now, we must wait
Our uncertain future lurks around the corner
All the progress we made
All the hope we accomplished
Undone
In just one hour
In just one day
To discover more poems, please visit Poets.Org
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