Despite the Decay

The tightness worsens at night.

Read the blood-stained streets.

Open your eyes to the stark reality

of what is happening now.

Breathing is difficult.

It labors on me—

fading.

My heart pumps blue,

true.

My passion will not die with me.

Life will go on

despite the decay.

Newborns are innocent,

shaped only by those around them.

What will the next generation bring?

Will this empire rise

or finally fall?

I am losing faith

in humans who care only for themselves.

It is time for change.

We cannot let brutalities be erased.

We must remember.

The rock inside me grows heavier.

I want to close my eyes for good—

or open them

to a new tomorrow.

Kinder.

More compassionate.

Free.

_________

Jeanie Hartranft wrote this as a reminder that

remembering is an act of resistance.