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It was easy to judge her from a distance

but did you ever walk a second in her flesh?

 

With a God-size gaze we labeled her skin

But what does the world look like from within?

Were you there in the ambush of cold sweats & sneers?

Were you there in the flashbacks of treachery &  flares?

 

to mock, tease and stare

but what does the world look like

from within the confines of a nightmare?

 

We were never close enough to her heartbeat

to explore the origins of its pulse

Oblivious, the coldness penetrated and our hearts were engulfed.

Now only a coffin has the courage to mutter a response.

 

For 41 nights and 41 lifetimes

the closet threatened to explode

with silences too cold to unfold.

Her lowest moments were our lowest moments

Her suffering was our suffering.

Yet we remained deaf to insistent pleas,

truths deemed damned and unworthy.

 

The more we distanced ourselves from the forbidden agony

the more we buried the trauma into a living memory.

The more we withdrew the more intense was the withdrawal.

What we remained blind to, was what she saw.

 

Every eruption awaited a torrent of tears

but who ever extended a palm or a receptive ear?

 

To track the tracks

was to uncrack the origins of the cracks.

Into which a faint dream of peace slipped

wings, roots and futures clipped.

Dissuaded and deterred

We let the funeral procession steal the last word.

 

Power blurs the schism

between blood & innocence.

Who are the haunters and the haunted?

Who are the hunters and the hunted?

Who are the creators and who are the traitors?

Who didn’t judge but only listened and accepted?

Who didn’t criticize but refrained and reflected?

1 COMMENT

  1. This poem embodies the concept of knowing. Knowing a person is the key to understanding them. Looking from the outside cannot be the only perspective you use to see a persons truth. Especially when clouded by judgment and bias. When we as human beings do this we build on the ugliness of shadowing truth. It is necessary that both the good and bad of a person has to be out in the open or everyone will suffer in the end, this also applies to issues in society. The concept of hushing the uncomfortable situations and conversations in life only build up pain. Therefore it is every mans responsibility to take accountability of their role in hushing the truths of their life and the world around them.

  2. This poem talked about judging a book by its cover. It is impossible to know what a person in turmoil is going through without asking, and sometimes that is not enough because the person struggling has not deciphered exactly what is going on. Until they can decipher and filter through the turmoil, they can’t explain it themselves. Sometimes prayer and patience is the key. Anyone can have an opinion on what they think makes a person do the things they do but there is always a stark truth behind the action that someone just may not want to come out because it effects the whole of the situation.

  3. The poem is reflecting on knowing someone’s truth. Not just judging based on the mistakes she has made in her life. The poem also speaks on empathy, basically before judging and having your own opinion try to put yourself in her position and see the light that she was seeing. The pain and agony that she went through, the family only saw the problem, not what was deeply rooted that made the problem start in the first place. There is always a good to a person, but yet people only relate and focus on the bad of a person. Its like the bad over shadows the good. I feel that the poem is also stating is rather than fighting with the sun, embrace it. When the sun lights only part of your subject’s face, harsh shadows immediately crop up on the opposite side. To get rid of shadows, you simply put your back to the sun, which will cause your subject to turn into the light, producing an even wash of light across her face. When the subject is side lit, reducing shadows is simply a matter of turning your subject into the light. When the light is directly overhead, you can eliminate shadows by getting slightly higher than your subject and having the person look up into the light.

  4. To me this poem means that people shouldn’t judge you if they don’t know you. A lot of people think that you are a certain way until they really get to know you. Never judge a book by its cover!

  5. It not good to judge a book by it’s cover there are good in people who have addiction and if they are rehabilitated i feel they deserve a second chance. I feel when you criticize someone or constantly accuse or be little them or outcast them in your family you are executing them with a just cause. If your not going to help the cause then eliminate yourself from the situation as a whole.

  6. I don’t know many people that can truly relate to the class your sister and my mother were in. That’s why the coffin could only mutter her words. Melancholy, no because the her truth is in her death.

  7. The overall message I got from this poem is to never judge a book by its cover because there’s people who go through things that you never been through and you don’t know what it’s like because you never walked a mile in their shoes to judge someone For the choices they make it’s better to help support them in a way to turn the negative to positive

  8. When seeing somebody we love fading away, the mere idea of saying good bay it is really hard. we will never accept any reasonable explanation, the question, why? there won´t have never an answer to it. We´d wish always be there, to feel what they feel just to share and split any pain they could feel.

    Beautiful and deep words in the Poem.

  9. We hurt each other all the time.. this it what we see all around us in our everyday life. Almost all the people that fall into addiction are judge by others, including their family members. It’s sad because we don’t know why the reason that person believe they have no way out except through using drugs, prostitution, suicide etc.. Who are we to judge? Sometimes they can have all the support in the world and still feel lonely. The same way sometimes is a bit overwhelming for their loved ones. At the end of the day, they need us no matter how hard is it. We can accomplish a lot by giving our love and support to them even when we think they don’t care or realize it. They do..

  10. This poem is deeply emotional, and show how deep you were touch by her loss. It question ourself on the feeling we have and we should have on those who are in the same situation she was. we should give compassion to those who remains with us Gabor Mate suggest. May the earth be light for her.

  11. This poem is deeply emotional, and show us how deep you were touched by her loss . It question ourself on the feelings we have and we should have on those who are in the same situation she was. We should give compassion to those who remain with us as Gabor Mate suggest. May the earth be light for her. Sincerely

  12. We should not judge a person by what they do because we don’t know the reasons that made them to fall in the situation. The worst is to judge them instead to try to helped them because in the way they are screaming for help because they feel so tired of what they are going true and maybe that’s the only way they can feel good.

  13. The worst thing we can do to another person is judge them, they’re already dealing with their own pain and to have outsiders have a say in their life’s as well is not an easy thing. Aside from knowing what a persons problem is we should look into what is causing the problem this way we could help by understanding.

  14. Emotional pain is the hardest to cure since there is no medication nor food supplement that will make it any better. Judging a person rather than offering a helping hand will make more of an impact than criticizing.

  15. It is extremely difficult to see someone we love go through such an experience. Most often we criticize, thinking that might make the person change and stop. It comes from a place of caring. No matter the struggle, being there for those we care for is the important thing.

  16. A lovely poem professor! So much truth yet such contraction between each line. For what her truth was, everyone seemed to hope it really was not what she saw. It is a very difficult place to be when someone you care for and love is battling such evils in their life. We always want to help and see them do and be better but yet do not want them to feel as if they are always being put down and criticized for their actions when all in all you just want them to be ok and safe and importantly here. As we know that addiction is not a mental issue but a disease and all recoveries come with time and hope with the grace of god. We must target the underlying issue and try to help restore them little by little with the chance of not getting lost again.

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