Weep not for the mothers laying dead in bombed out villages
or their sisters and brothers shot in the back
as they waved their flags of black, red, green & white
weep instead for the children they leave behind,
far out of the world’s sight
as we pay no mind to the plight
of the broken and battered
their whole world shattered
can you find it in your heart to shed even one tear for them
this Mothers Day?
Is your fear so great that you remain paralyzed
with subconscious hate
and apathetically nod, ‘but it’s their fate’
as you eat Medjool dates
grown in places erased from the map
to further slap those orphans upside the head,
it’s Mother’s Day in America, but theirs are dead
and we stay well fed on dates and aging lies
but when did stolen land become a prize for genocide?
And when did love for one equate hate for another?
Brother, don’t shed tears for me
please weep for our mother.
Why did auntie’s independence
become mamma’s catastrophe
as the clock strikes seventy years
the caged dove still longs to breathe free
while it’s choking on the smoke
from burning fields of ancient olive trees
and through the smoke we can’t see
that we hold the keys
we drive the Caterpillar bulldozers destroying what’s left of homes
we hold the gasoline and matches burning down those ancient olive groves
we fly the jets dropping death from above
but we hold the keys to unlock the cage and release the dove
and we don’t need a sage to advise us about right and wrong
and we don’t need to wait on a page-turning book or a catchy song
There’s no mourning in America this Mother’s Day
there’s no money in the truth my friend, and skies are grey
don’t just bow your head and pray
and wait for things to change
as you pay to turn the world into a target range
and say you think it strange how things are as they are
as you search for lucky coins and look for shooting stars
you curse the President as you fuel Air Force One
and watch him Bob Ross mushroom clouds out of a price-tag gun
you think Uncle Sam’s come undone
but he’s long been this way…
I hope you find a tear to cry on Mother’s Day
soitgoes1984 