The Voice

The past weeks, or is it months (?) have all been in a daze,

Starting with a virus and then revealing the rest,

Cyclones, locusts, earthquakes, killings and what have you,

It happened to us and then it happened to you too.

But as I stare today into your black image of protest,

Silently reflecting in the way I can best,

My mind wanders to several others,

Miles away from you but too close to me rather,

Lynched and mobbed and degraded for being themselves right here,

Some by the color of them, some by what they knew as home, others coz their divine differed from the rest, while several for reasons not even known to them,

I, we, watched in silence and let the end come so near,

And now its to a point where the voice must be clear

Rumbling within there and growling within here

The option for staying mum is not just now there

Bringing together events in our reach and far beyond with not an inch to spare

Speak we must, stand we must, together in this hour,

Coming as one black, white, brown, and all shades in between,

Them, us, you and I and all souls seen and unseen,

Him, her, himself, herself, they and everyone together,

Here, there, everywhere as one,

Being with humans and every living soul,

To be a pulse of this planet without being told.

The apocalypse they say is near,

I say just speak (even think) once, and then there will be no fear,

For where rests the hell, the heaven of freedom too is here,

Just that you, me and us need to burst the bubble, come out and be there,

Start with a single life, and a single different choice,

Just listen carefully to that inner, firm and echoing voice.