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White Nights

Updated: Sep 3, 2020


Tell me how do you sleep?

How does one sleep

through the screaming of

their brothers?

How do police sleep on

their beds

Warmed by the breath of

their living spouse,

Lulled by the calm of

their quiet house?

How do they sleep?

Unconcerned by the lives

they stole

Unbothered by their

brothers

The others

We, the others with your

scorn sticked on the skin

Do you know how we

sleep?

In the deafening silence of

absence

The sawing pain of raw

injustice

Your violence

Our bodies

Our flesh

Your rule that calls for

unrest

Imposes strain

Exhaust us

Yet, we don't sleep, we

can't sleep

(But) You do

Denying rest even in

death

Absorbing our strength

and our breath

Exhausting

You exhaust us

Make empty shells of us

The sound of your

siren becomes clearer,

neater, invasive

I hear it in the streets, on

my bed, in my head, in

your world that forbids my

dreams so I can't sleep

I can't sleep

And tonight like other

nights

My mind can't find peace

In this endless rumbling

Simmering and suffocating

under the weight of my

guild

I ask: "Why am I here?"

When there's not enough

air for all of us to breathe

So tell me, how do you

sleep?

#poetry #personalnarrative

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