Doctor Grandma

Like cattle we stand,
We wait,
We wait,
Standing in line we wait.
Upstairs they are full,
So they put us here,
We are hidden behind a wall,
The line is long, then turns a corner,
goes down another hall,
There are no chairs,
no resting place,
I wonder how long it will be?
Mothers with babies
Desperately bored,
Old raggedy men in dirty clothes,
People just wanting to pay a bill,
People with disabilities,
An old woman with knee brace
cuts in line.
No one says a word.
A new bride wants to change her name,
She jokes with those before her,
They make a pact to stay together,
not leave ’till they all get through,
Eventually, they let us go
to elevators in the hall,
We run past security, yelling,
“We are free!”
(He doesn’t cut a smile.)
Upstairs we check in,
and take a number,
but here, we have a chair,
Three hours’ time
to people watch
and then I disappear.

When you are 3,
Language doesn’t matter,
Our mommies wait in line
but we can play,
Como te llamas? 
What? What’s your name,
Hold my hand,
Now let’s jump!
Mama’s number is called,
Wave goodbye,
Now alone she says,
“Mommy, I lost my best friend.”

On this Independence Day,

while we celebrate,

children are locked in cages like dogs,

given a space blanket,

left alone to cry,

left alone to die,

never seeing the Sun,

a little boy cares for his younger sister,

a mother’s baby has no diapers,

They are not let out to bathe or shower,

they do not have enough to eat.

Their crime is coming to the land of the free,

expecting grace, or sympathy,

Mothers and fathers, hundreds of souls,

no room to lie down, no room to play,

They wait, and wait,

they are wasting away.

Lady Liberty stands tall and demands a change,

she calls to you and me,

Lady Liberty calls in agonizing pain,

for what she sees today.

This nation stands for equality,

for freedom, for humanity,

“For as ye have done for the least of my brethren,

ye have done so unto Me.”

cfblack 7-04-2019

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.

==by Robert Frost

Sometimes a curveball
Comes out of nowhere,
Knocks you off your feet,
Takes your breath away.
It saddens you, 
and still you know,
You always want the truth,
And those who choose to be unkind
determine their own worth.
God is giving you a blessing,
Offering you a path,
Who are you to stand in the way,
And not do what is asked?

cfblack  03/27/2019

The silence is deafening,
I lie here thinking,
Where do the homeless go,
In a hurricane?

Tonight there is hardly
A sound or a chirp,
It is as if they sense
The coming dread,

We all await
The power unleashed
That soon will blow above our heads,

The size of 3 states
Nature’s fury
She churns the waters
Reaching out her arms,

“Rest assured,
I am coming,” she says,
“I will turn your way
Into the South,

I will release
My endless waters,
The winds I have
Will scream my name,

And you will know
When I am with you,
And when I leave
Your world will be changed,”

And so we wait
These endless hours, and birds now sing at break of day,
I bring my plants in from the porch, and wonder
Where the homeless go
In a hurricane?

            cfblackawaiting Florence 09-13-2018

Breathtaking beauty,

One by one the petals fall,

Revealing the roots.

02-25-2019