I was walking across the street, when you fell,

I let the mud seep into your fabric …

I watched you struggle on the ground,

I didn’t want to splash any dirt on my jeans,

I couldn’t wait to get away from you.

~

I thought about what you said the other day,

realized just how easily we might remind

ourselves how to listen to one another

instead of abusing each other’s name.

I didn’t have time to imagine any longer.

~

I would have joined you on the wagon,

the rally calls, and atmosphere enticed me.

But if I did that I’d lose my place in line,

my whole day would be lost to empathy,

I’d rather walk alongside until I lose you.

~

I know a dialogue could happen soon

if we were well to wait for a response,

rather than feel compelled to have the last

word in an every growing circle of disdain.

The rhetoric in our society exhausts me.

~

When I saw you slip on the street that day,

I noticed people begin to look the other way,

I did the same because we all band together

when those visions about us distract our view.

I haven’t the time to care about the world.