Fragments

 

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Tick. Tick. Tick.
As the time goes by
The resounding melody of a tearless cry
Figments of love, taken not replaced

Inescapable unrelenting
Thoughts obscured to the messages sending
Back tracking responses that should never exist
Sentenced to life in miserable bliss

Tenuous, this should never be
Hearing the murmurs of lies, like a melody
Yes... that sound resounding
Hammers away... the fracture...feel it coming

But who am I to judge? Whisper and point the finger
I lived this in your shoes bare backed through the cold of winter
While hungry dogs lashed at a bone I simper
Thighs on my neck as she claims I’m her own

To simply morn what was once so great
I dissipate

To less than I was before
These fragments of reality I chose to ignore.

Olsfred James & Mikhail Simmons 2013©

Fracture

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I heard it

Like thunder through the night

Breaking the silence of slumber

Shaking foundation

Echo, echo, echo

Echoing through the streets

A sound so familiar yet uncommon

Unusual to this place we all grew to label home

As if it were a phone call

We were eager to answer

Though we cringed by the message from the other line

We made our way outdoors

Hypnotized by this noise

Wanting…

Needing to know what it meant

We sought its origin

To confirm the fallacies of our neighborhood

Roaming through what should be the dead of night

Baring a winter’s cold against our skins.

By now the sirens made no sound our instincts did not already sense

For we had arrived

Arrived at the scene where his body laid

Limp and disfigured

Sprawled in the now pool of blood

His clothes torn at every point of impact

Yellow tape guarded by disco dancing uniforms barred entry

Eyes turned away; the faint of heart fled

A mother; in the midst of the cluster

Screaming in agony with knees to the concrete

Tainted forever by the actions of a few.

Even if you didn’t know him, tonight you knew him.

Caged at the back

The suspect sat awaiting his sentence

A sentence that would come too soon from the protesting hoard

Aggravated - a stone throw begins the ascension of judgment

Spider webs creep across the police glass

This “killer” had to be punished

And though the lawmen ordered cease and desist

They were no match for the wrath that would follow

When the car window shattered and their prize was dragged out to the ground

Knelt amid an angry mob

Pleads of innocence and cries of condolences would not soothe this night

They struck him.

Much to his dismay but not to his surprise

They wanted justice. They wanted blood

As they punched him.

Kicked him.

Flogged him with whatever they laid their hands on

The blood gushing from his forehead appeased it

There is peace in death we would hope

But for now there would be no silence for days of the weeks to come

Every heart in anguish from the 2 innocent slayings.

Olsfred James 2013©