May 4, 2017 Original Poetry

Shoulder to Shoulder
©May 4th, 2017
By Vijaya Sundaram

Blood rises against blood,
The pleasure of the few
Meets the pain of the many.

Love meets Hate
Is battered down,
Rises up again, trembling,
Unbowed, bleeding from the ears.

The body is at war with
Its wasting self.

Can a cell tremble at
The destruction of its world?

Or, is star-matter
At war with dark matter?

No matter.

This unfettered beating
Of the wings of demons
Rising from beneath the minds
Of those who’ve abandoned all
Pretext of civic sense
Makes our darkness dense
With doubt and grief.

Savagery is unleashed
Shame is absent in all,
Except in those with love
In their hearts
(And our hearts are sore) –

The shame of those who know
What it takes to hold tight
To all that makes us human,
Coming face to face with
The shamelessness of those
Who’ve tumbled down,
Down, down, down
Into a chasm of unending
Horror –
The horror of the loss
Of all that makes us
Human, and divine.

The fallen don’t know it.
They rejoice in their vacuum.
We weep for them,
And for us.

And then, we’ll arise,
Spread our arms,
Stand shoulder to shoulder,
And fight against
The encroaching darkness.

It is all we can do.
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Written in response to the AHCA “yes” vote today.

Tags: #AHCA, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #Response to growing heartlessness in the world