Reaching through the scars

Reaching through the scars

 

Reaching through the scars

to the healing, lacerated

by the cogs of civilization,

swallowed, almost,

by the canyons of power,

blinded by the thick smog

of illusion,

weighed down

by sweat laden crumbs.

 

And yet, for the past

five thousand years,

relatively few have faltered,

relatively few have contemplated

the razor thin wounds

that web our body

from brain to toe,

and decided to kneel,

begging for relief.

The rest, the mass,

pressed by unyielding necessity,

we have pushed each other forward,

dressing each other’s wounds,

a cry of rage

lingering

like the smell of dysinfectant.

 

While wounded bodies heal

from the inside,

scars on the surface

fool the victimizers

into believing

they got us under control.

 

But we are looking

through our scars

to the healing,

the weak grow strong.

We are here, not to inherit

but, to conquer the world.

(1982)