Mother, Father,
let me ask you
if you have seen my brother?
Sent him off to seek his fortune,
for to live and die in battle.
Mother, Father,
Did you blame him
for the sins of all our people?
Kindly cut and chastise him
for the crimes that you committed?
Mother, Father,
can you blame him
if he wanders to the shadow?
Your light is sick with contradictions
and blinds all who attempt to follow.
If I look
I might still find him,
lost and broken
in a stairwell.
Now, he’s married
to a needle
and all his offspring
are stillborn.
Mother, Father,
I have questions.
I must ask after my sister.
you told me she
was given freedom,
wing to fly and touch the sunset.
Mother, Father,
has she told you
of her time amongst the eagles?
How the corvids and their murder
plucked every one of her feathers?
Mother, Father,
did you love her
enough to try to prepare her
for the world and all its sorrows,
so she might not fall prey to vultures?
I know
that I have seen her
walking along beside the water.
All alone
and lost to using
her very life
a lone injection.
Mother, Father,
can you hear us?
We survived the plague and sorrow,
now we are bent with our confusion
and too weak to stand our ground.
Mother, Father,
can you see us
nodding off into the darkness?
Our pupils dilate,
but no light gets in.
Our hearts grow cold
forever.
HG – 2022
