Stumbling along the sidewalk

Feeling bursts into mental state.

I’m so irate, I pity my own fate.

I’ll take what you can give,

I’ll hope to be saved.

Simple things will rock me to taste,

The hardness of life cripples my brain.

Do you know of what I complain?

Have you seen my latest date?

Bait, such bait, my soul deflates.

Imprisoned, I swear till I wear my cape.

Tortured to the end, I’m always late.

In the hole, is where I’m laid.

Insane, insane, my rotten brain,

My life is cut, I hide from pain.

Can you see where I am made?

Where I plead, why I’m slain?

Softly it comes, quickly it raids.

With a twist, it becomes

The truth, such a bane.

It’s so wrong, a song,

A haunted refrain.

It’s been too long,

I pray now for rain.

It’s not me anymore, not what I claim.

What’s left of myself

Clings to, but wanes.

I lose my grip, not what I’d say.

It happens too fast, too soon,

What a lucky day!

A missile gliding into the rain,

A poet shouting the same refrain,

Over and under and

Through the pain,

I hear you, I hear you,

Like a steaming train,

Rattling along, screaming in a rage.

I see what you mean, now,

I mean to say,

But I cannot, because

My soothing days

Are all in the past,

Yes, there they remain.

I leave you, here, now,

I know it’s not quite the same.

I know that I should care,

I know how you sang

Of all that is not right,

And of better days.

So, please forgive me,

That’s what I want to say,

But before I can tell you,

You ask me to stay.

I cannot! I cannot!

I bid you good day.

See you tomorrow,

Is all that I say.

Then you cry,

And that’s all that remains

In my memory,

That’s all I can say.

Good night,

God bless you.

Tomorrow is another day.

I must believe that it’s true.

There is no other way.

I trust you. I want to.

Come out of the grey.

Please, be with me,

Just one more day.

I know how you feel.

Tomorrow is only another day.

Different may be different,

And different is not the same.

But to be with the same

Is quite different for many who are the same,

And those who are the same are the same,

Which is quite different.

Sometimes being with the same

Is just not the same.

But being with those who are different

Is not always the same either.

Perhaps, some are meant to be

With those who are the same,

And some are meant to be

With those who are different.

I know that is quite different,

But sometimes it’s good to be different,

Especially for those who are not the same,

Because they are different.

Mapped a way.

Get there somehow.

Got to get through.

Get there some way.

Striving,

Holding on.

Standing

On what I hold dear.

Clinging

To the last of my sanity.

Staying

In the zone.

Socializing

When I can.

Visiting

With my friends.

Making ends meet.

Paying bills.

Cooking meals.

Getting up on time.

Time.

It’s a funny thing.

It means

So much to us.

So important.

Structure.

Pay checks.

Fitting in.

A day’s work.

Taking a vacation.

Getting sick.

Leaving for a little while,

For appointments,

Running errands.

We want to do what’s right.

We want to please our boss,

At least most of the time.

Jumping through

The hoops they make for us,

Biding time (there’s that word again),

Until we can go home,

To do what we want,

What really matters to us.

The comfy, cozy stuff.

Let us go home.

Let us be safe.

Let us be with the ones we love.

Let us have time to be ourselves.

Let us have more time.

Freedom.

I say, FREEDOM!

Let us all rejoice.

Let us all break free

From the chains that hold us.

Let us not let others

Tell us what we can and can’t do.

Let us not let religion or politics

Stand in the way.

Let us not let old, crotchety, white men

Tell us how we can spend

The rest of our days.

Let us love who we want to love,

Go where we want to go,

Say what we want to say,

Worship who we want to worship,

Be who we want to be.

There is too much constraint.

There are too many rules.

There are too many eyes

Spying on us from cracks in the walls.

There are too many guns

Pointed at us in the face.

We want to free.

We want to live our lives

How we want to live.

Please,

Set us free,

In the name of God,

In the name of our forefathers,

In the name of freedom riders,

In the name of Ghandi,

In the name of Martin,

And Malcolm,

And John Lennon,

And John F. Kennedy,

And Robert Kennedy,

And all the others that have died,

Do what is right,

Do what is right.

What if I could not say hello to you?

What if we couldn’t have sex?

What if we couldn’t go to church on Sunday?

What if we could not work?

There are so many possibilities,

So many freedoms that we all

Take so much for granted.

I am as guilty as anyone else.

We have it so good in our country,

Though there is always

Plenty of room for improvement.

Right now, there are many injustices

Present for many people.

The mistreatment, and, sometimes,

Even murders of black citizens

By police officers is a concern;

Another is the mass deportation

Of Hispanic immigrants;

And the unequal pay and

Lack of promotions for women;

And the exploitation of student loans;

And the influence of big business

And the extremely wealthy in politics;

The list goes on and on.

These are some of my concerns.

I’m sure you have plenty of your own,

And they may be the same,

Or they may be very different.

Perhaps you are concerned

About the use of abortion;

Or maybe, same-sex marriage;

Or the welfare state.

We all have our priorities.

We all value different things,

And, perhaps, they are two sides

To the same coin.

It’s what makes our country great.

But, I wonder,

Can our country withstand the strain

That it is under?

So much conflict!

So much stress on our daily lives.

Can we make it through

The crucible of our greatest strength,

But perhaps our greatest weakness:

Democracy?