Of Life, Of Happiness, Of Peace

Like a fog
Over San Francisco
The memories remain
I may forget them
Drown them in some way
But they are there
Hanging over my heart
The sunshine
may burn them away
momentarily
But with every  rainy day
Every laps in sunshine
that casts a shadow over my shoulder
I feel them

Waiting to descend
Upon me like the hounds of hell
Because something
Random, sweet, and innocent
Smacked me in the face
Like an angry girlfriend
Because she caught you with her best friend
Reminding me of what I had taken away
reminding me of what you
I
He
She
We
They
Have done

The horrors committed
The secrets we hide
Behind masks of life
Of happiness
Of peace
The atrocities committed behind closed doors or even in plain sight
Because no one is brave enough to stand up
We walk by
And murmur to ourselves
What can you do?

We appease our minds
With images of our own helplessness
When all it would take
Is a word
A gesture
A look lasting a little to long
That says
I know whats going on

And maybe it would all stop and go away
Maybe one day the human race will grow a spine
And stand up for those that cannot for themselves
We fight wars overseas
But cannot see the wars being fought in out own country
Our  state
Our  town
Our  home

We are unable to see
Because we don’t want to
Everyone walks by
Reads the stories in the newspapers
And shakes their head and murmurs
What a shame
Lock him up
Give him the chair

Yes punishment we dole out
But that does not heal the wounds
Does not give back
A childhood stolen
No
Nothing can do that
We are so focused on punishing past transgressions
That we cannot think
To prevent

That look in her eye?
Learn it
Know it well
It is her guilt
But it should be everyones
It is a guilt
that should hang from the shoulders
of every culture and community
that stands by
and does nothing
while so many struggle to force a façade
Of life
Of happiness
Of peace