Each morning I draw blood
pressing a needle beneath my skin.
It no longer hurts nerves
deadened by repetition.
I watch blood drawn in the streets,
the blood of others
I shall never meet.
I have learned to bear my own pain.
The pain of others is a heavier rain
upon a parched soul
in need of hope.
My greatest fear is that one day,
as in all things,
that greater pain will fade away.
I will become numb to others’ pain.
That is the day I shall be dead
even as my heart still beats
and I still bleed.
Blood will flow in streets I no longer see.
But, I shall no longer feel a thing.
Government has become
too sickeningly sweet.
The only cure is to stop feeding off
brutality, lies and corruption,
hoping for gain that is never enough.
A nation feeding off its own
cannot survive.
annarino writes 