This is no way to wake up.
Perhaps, it has become the only way.
We may have stayed asleep too long.
we may have missed the call
of our immigrant ancestors.
We may have been too deep in our own dreams.
We may not have heard the alarm
in the voices of those awake,
and made to suffer
while we dreamt on.
We may have found dreams
easier to focus beyond
the painful reality
that comes with the dawn.
Becoming awake means
it is not too late
to set aside hate
which weakens all bonds,
and love our country enough
to make it strong enough
to end the nightmares.
We can and we must
awaken to a new dawn.
I am awake and I quake
in the light made by evil heat
that feels punishing and wrong.
Today, I uneasily awake
determined to push on
past those who tell us
some of us
do not belong.
annarino writes 