No Other Way (poem)

Night after night, I lay there and took it.
If I was afraid, I tried not to look it.
My only concern, my only true care
Was the safety of my children,
And if they were there . . .
Did they see?
Could they hear?
Did they somehow sense my terror?
Could they somehow smell my fear?
Did my muffled screams escape somehow
And filter to their rooms,
Or did the cries I never uttered
Die alone in silent tombs?
Did it matter that I tried so hard
To keep silent and still?
Not when I have to suck it up
And take this bitter pill
Of BLAME.
I'm so sick of playing this GAME.

When will society tire of using a child as a pawn?
When will boys grow up and be men
And stop the pissing contests over
Who has the nicest lawn?
When will Lady Liberty get her glasses fixed
So she can finally see
That truth is truth, but justice is dead,
And it's time for the slaves to go free.

Civil rights my ass.
We don't have none anymore.
We talk about 'em
Write about 'em
Stick a poster on every door.
But they don't exist in practice --
Not in medical practices,
Not in legal practices,
Not anywhere except in writing
In some faded old document somewhere
That says all are created equal
And that we have rights.

What a crock.
Tick tock.
America, your time is almost up.
Wake up and smell the coffee, people.
Read the writing on the wall.
You really ticked Him off
When you started murdering the small.
Back in 1973, you said it was okay
That little people didn't need
To see the light of day.
That we could "choose" who we let live
And who should die.
We called this a choice.

Now hear my voice,
For what it's worth.
As much trouble of my own as I have,
This country's trouble is worse.
Talk about an identity crisis.
We're so busy running around the world
Fighting other people's wars
That we ignore the horror
In our neighborhoods
And hide behind closed doors.

"Jesus is the answer for the world today . . . "
Ain't that the truth. For sure,
There ain't no other way!