Once when I was
Younger a lover rented
A garret an awful
Hole in the wall
Stuck way up on
A forgotten floor of
A home whose only
View could be seen
From there and from
There the city fanned
Out like a favorite
Bedtime story calling us
To dream the kinds
Of dreams lovers do
This morning brings hope
The night’s been long
An eternity really as
We’ve waded through disquieting
Secrets and shaken trust
There is crippling pain
When at first truth
Is exposed after lies
It takes us awhile
To try again trust
Flees quickly once freed
Shadows are funny things
Children frolic with them
While adults run away
Oftentimes I do think
That shadows are our
Mirrors reflection soul side
The part of ourselves
Rarely gazed upon infrequently
Considered but always there
Reminding us all that
Even our souls have
A dark side seen
I remember simpler times
Times when what we
Knew was limited and
What we didn’t was
Found in books and
Imaginations tucked deeply away
On lonely dark shelves
Today knowledge is immediate
But wisdom whether about
Another or a thing
Requires time and experience
The mind is an
Entitled child taking discarding
Barely opened things but
The heart from where
Wisdom flows is ever
But an elder rocking
On a porch somewhere
Recalling recounting and remembering
The wrongs they did
And yes once again
I had my nightmares
Of greed and power
But they weren’t mine
I simply facilitated them
By my own dis-sins
Of disinterest and disloyalty
Dishonesty and disturbance
Disprove disarm and disgrace
Distant dislike and disappoint
Aren’t we all culprits
In crimes we allow
By disavowing the disemboweling
Of our own countrymen
Stand up stand together
And always stand strong
Against those who oppress
HARLAN DIDRICKSON 