Poem for Dominick
“Fists.
Kicks.
Screams.
Couldn’t you hear them?
Didn’t you see him?
Or did your high block your common senses
Allowing you to be so senseless
Mommy,
I loved you
Unconditionally
Through it all
The good, the bad, and the abuse
Yet still my story ends this way
Too full of innocence…
In a world like this it’s the price you pay
I was too fragile to exist in this place
So God prepared for me a sacred space
Called me to a home where I could feel safe
Still I ask him to impart on you more grace”
This is just the story of one.
But it’s being put on repeat everyday
With many alterations on the details and the ending
But at the core same stories, different cast
Something has to give and fast
Our babies are suffering while we stand by in silence
Hardly caring. Never questioning…
Blocking out their silent cries
Removing ourselves from the story
As if we are not all connected when we are
Our communities crumbling from neglect
No commune takin place here
Replacing “we’s” with “I’s” and “you’s”
Believing in the illusion that we are seperate
Yet our very atoms are constantly being exchanged
And we share the same breath
Live under the same sky
There is but one earth
One sun, One moon
One song, different tunes
Your pains manifest in me
I open my eyes and hope you can see
Our stories, though different, are the same
The only thing separating us is a name
We must counteract all this evil we’ve became
Cause I’m tired of writing poems like this: it’s a shame!
*************************************************
So I am sitting in the Toyota Service Center getting my recall work done and an oil change. I’m bored so I’m on my phone and run across an article someone linked on FB and as I read it, as common a story as it is I am brought to tears. I mean I had to get up and go to the bathroom and bawl my eyes out-type tears.
I think why I connected so is because I’m in the process of potty training and I well understand the frustration that can come along with it. But the aggression that this guy expressed is so beyond me.
The story: a little 4 year old boy is beat to death for wetting his pants. What??
To call that response extreme is for sure an understatement. I try to fathom what must be so bad in this guys life to cause him to snap like that? To beat not his, but his girlfriends kid to death like that for something so innocent…an accident.
What kind of rage? Where does it come from? Where does it go?
How do we get rid of it? How do we keep each other from reaching that point??
I’m pondering all these questions and I write this poem as I think about these things. I don’t quite know the answers other than we need to pray for one another. Not just our own families and local communities, we need to pray for each other all over the world.
The devil is loose. Cause that was nothing but the devil.
And not to give this man an excuse or an out: but what if someone could have reached out to him in his own life and all that he may or may not have been dealing with: to reduce his stress and maybe that in effect making him less aggressive. It’s a long shot I know: but everything effects everything else (butterfly effect). Maybe more positivity in his past could have led him down a better path. My point: be a light to everyone whom you encounter. You never know they may very well be in need of that. A simple smile. A “hello.” A “God Bless” You.” An I see you and realize you exist. These little things matter. And they make a difference no matter how big or small. As I always say: there is enough negativity in the world. Be a positive light. Help re-establish that balance.
-Sorry for getting up on my soap box, but this one tugged at my heart strings.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/04/15/michigan.child.torture/index.html?hpt=T2
