Awakening - A poem by Nannette Rogers Kennedy

When we no longer see

war, murder, rape,

corruption, rapacity,

hunger, theft,

angst and empty pockets,

disease and death...

as scenes on television

which we can

mindlessly

change the channel...

When we articulate the words

'Sorry for your loss'

as more

than a cluster of 

vacant

phonetic 

sounds...

When we force 

ourselves to stare

into the abyss of agony,

and feel the torment of others,

as the bile rises

into our collective throats

and the choice to swallow

begins to fail.

When we choose 

to step inside

the hearts of mothers, fathers,

children, brothers and sisters,

aunts and uncles,

and every single 

George Floyd ever killed

at the hands of duplicity,

and the anesthetic

of "self" wears off

and we experience 

the gut wrenching 

grief of what cannot be undone....

When our eyes widen

with an electric jolt

and our synapses fire

and jump 

at the apathy of living 

only as "me,"

then "we" will regain

our amazing 

state of grace...

And when our courage

grows greater

than our greed

and state of dread,

will the vast 

absence residing

in the hole of hate

refill itself

with that which we are born~

Repetition of good intentions

will lose their hollow echoes,

when our actions outside

the cathedrals, mosques

and synagogues

stay with us 

beyond those doors~

Then we will penetrate

each other's souls

and sense the warmth

of one's hand

inside another's

and finally realize

our divine connection

with a vibrant 

shiver.

Nannette Rogers Kennedy

revised January 2022