Adrift or Whole?
by Odin Roark

Buried long amidst fear and repression,
a world gazes at television screens in wonder,
so many of like mind,
so many of like purpose,
so many insistent on false freedom.

Why such insistence?

We are not of like mind.

We are not of like purpose...

Yet, far too many remain trapped,
clamorous of membership in the two percent.

Ironically,
the mind,
its purpose,
its freedom,
its health,
rests indubitably void of wealth’s trappings.

Perhaps…

It should be obvious to us,
these foreign country refugees with raw needs and wants,
asking but for simple entitlements of civilized behavior,
most sending messages for all to hear,
that the hope of most aspiring humans
is growth void of repression and hate.

And yet…

Some would sit back and wonder
at our own silence of eruption,
our continued stifling of tremors below,
quashing the need for release.

Alas

For now

The glistening ducts of “civilized behavior” emits but muted cries down the face of truth,
forming tears of quiet guilt,
even as we rejoice
at the tenacity of another's courage.

To embrace one another,
to see abusive power destroyed,
to build a life imbued with love,
free from degradation and exploitation,
such is the goal of man's rights,
the humanistic permission to live freely,
to be whole,
to never know that adrift-feeling again.