Two Poems

I recently wrote two poems and thought I would put them out for others to read. Let me know what you think. The first one is primarily about my father who is slowly dying from Alzheimer's. The second has to do more with my reconnection with God and how helpful that has been for me.

Dead Before Your Time

You died long ago,

though you still breath air,

a long lived life

does not always end fair.

Caged in confusion,

you are a child at best

hoping for some comfort

before being laid to rest.

Increasingly frail,

and riddled with guilt,

she visits you daily

and watches you wilt.

Ignoring her needs

in place of your own,

she leaves in tears

and drives home alone.

Memories once shared

are now locked in a vault,

"Who do you blame

when there is no one at fault?"

Try as you may

to come out of your shell,

the sea turtles swim

while you're locked in a cell.

Awakening

I see more clearly

now that I have been awakened

to all that is before me,

blinded for so long,

it's hard to fathom

how I negotiated my journey;

but you were with me

during my darkness,

patiently standing by,

knowing, some day,

love and peace of mind

would replace my angry cry.

Still, there must have been times

you could have left me

to wallow in my pain,

but you chose to wait me out,

knowing, some day,

I would seek shelter from the rain.

And there you were,

arms wide open,

and willing to wrap me in your loving embrace --

unconditional acceptance

of a long lost soul

in search of your grace;

and now that there is clarity,

I see in you

all that I am meant to be,

and I embrace others

with undying faith

the way you embrace me.

America's Terrorists

Americans are growing weary of our involvement in a war it believes it can not win in Iraq. After all, how do you win a war against an enemy that hides in caves or does not wear a uniform to distinguish itself as "the enemy"? This war on terrorism misses the mark in several ways, but one major way goes unnoticed by the general population.
While billions of dollars are spent on an enemy we can never eradicate in the middle east, we fail to label groups inside our country as terrorists despite their actions that strike fear into our lives or hold us hostage to their desires.
It's easy to label someone a terrorist when he straps explosives to his chest and walks into a crowded mall and detonates himself and in the process, kills scores of innocent people. And when this person practices a religion we do not fully understand or embrace, demonizing all who practice the religion becomes easy to do.
However, how is such an act any different than when a right wing Christian group takes credit for blowing up a women's health clinic because they are opposed to abortion? Both acts are done by religious zealots who are blind to any other way of thinking and both are convinced they are doing God's work.
America's terrorists do not stop here. What better word describes people who in the dark of night dress in hooded robes and burn crosses as a way to intimidate and drive out black families from their southern neighborhoods? To make someone, anyone, live in fear of their life is terrorism and the people who do this are terrorists.
When a dark SUV filled with angry young men slowly drives through a neighborhood with guns in full view, they can only be described as terrorists. And when they do not succeed in intimidating others and resort to spraying a home with bullets fired from their automatic weapons, killing people inside, it can only be described as an act of terrorism.
The twenty-five year old drug dealer who recruits eight, ten, and twelve year old boys to run his drugs for him under the threat of ,"Do it or I will hurt your family," is a terrorist. So are the young teenagers who beat up the same kid every day after school until he gets tired of it and agrees to join their gang.
Our government employs many fine law enforcement officers to hunt these criminals down and prosecutors to see to it they go to jail for their crimes, but still terrorists thrive inside our country. It's a major reason why today, one out of every one hundred citizens are in prison and we can not build new prisons fast enough to house our growing prison population.
But these are not our only terrorists. CEOs of major energy corporations are also terrorists. While they continue to rake in record profits while we pay close to $4.00 a gallon for gas, these people control our politicians and their political futures. No one of significance can get elected if they do not vote in favor of the energy corporate lobbyists because they know their campaign funds will dry up faster than the drought plagued southwest. It is a major reason why we, as a nation, are still tied to the use of fossil fuels rather than cleaner and cheaper energy sources like the wind and the sun.
It might surprise you, but our education leaders are also terrorists. They force our children into a narrow minded approach to learning, place them under undue stress as they work to achieve certain test scores and then they fail to provide them with affordable college tuition when they graduate from high school. An entire generation of standardized test takers will not be able to afford the cost of college and be forced into entering low paying and unfulfilling professions rather than be able to pursue the American dream.
So, the next time you look at someone of middle eastern decent or who practices Islam, do not be so quick to label him a terrorist. We have terrorists in every town in our country. It may not be comforting to think of them as terrorists, but when you analyze their actions, there is no other word that describes them better than terrorists.