Poetry Four Poems By David Michael Jackson I want to say that I am sorry but it is not enough to be sorry it is not enough to cry it is not enough to get even or even to try to turn the other cheek. The refugees gather at the border "Their lives matter too" It is enough to become quiet in the silence of the crowd it is enough to honor with silence the dead and the living it is enough to love again and to feed the hungry ones in silence we cannot heal wih revenge we must heal this wound in our hearts we bleed in silence our tears fall into the rubble but the fires still burn a poem for elisha my friend he teaches me to be free he teaches me to try yes, to simply try that is all that is required and I am proud to sit in his shadow as the rain falls or the sun burns my day I am proud to say I was not there in the battles I was not there in the kibbutz in the dry dusty streets waiting for the army trucks waiting for the war I was not there my friend was and he speaks for me and he leads me beside the still waters such is my love for my friend To the Poet he speaks it plain like simple cotton cloth like grain simple grain in the field he says it pure not bundled not cooked raw he says it plain like the wind and not the metaphor of the wind but the wind itself making noise in the trees SONGBIRD And where shall we go, then when all of the options are taken, when all of the dreams are used up in the morning of our discontent And where shall we go then when we refuse to hope (for we have to refuse the eternal hope) to condemn ourselves to the hell of no hope. Shall we turn then, turn the turnstill and get on the bus to hell, we shall lie down then in the morning of our discontent and sleep the sleep again which brings the new dreams for I cannot tell you No I will not tell you of the death of hope I will not tell you of the birth of despair though my hands may shrivel and the sores may ravage me, I will stand when I cannot stand I will sing when I have no voice I will laugh when there is only sorrow in front of me and I will cry only tears of joy when all is gone I can only hold this pen and write these words for you I can do no more no words can replace the song of just one songbird in the morning of our discontent So I say to you be that songbird - David Jackson is by trade a product engineer for a major U. S. corporation. He is also the editor and publisher of ArtPage Images an the webmaster of Artvilla.com. His poetry has been published at Artvilla, Moongate Internationale, PoetryMagazine.com, Verse Libre, and he was the featured poet in the April issue of Seeker Magazine. His art is also published in several locations on the net. He is from Murfreesboro, Tennessee and you can write to him at dave@artvilla.com
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