I am afraid,
Because the lot next to my home was razed
The trees uprooted
The ground compacted
The bees gasping their last breaths on my kitchen floor
and the hawks circling low and crying
I am afraid
Because this is the first time I ever felt my home
Stolen from me
My peace raked violently
By the beeping of loud machines
From sun up to sun down
Over which I have no control
But what scares me the most
Is that this is not new
People around me have been dying
for a very long time
It’s been urgent
And we’re just now seeing
The manifestations
You can tell me not to be afraid
Indeed, I have told myself
Commanding the voice into silence
Oppressed beneath the sheet of night
But I'd rather gather all my pieces
And sit them down here at my knee in prayer
Holding gently my own hand
Whispering we will find a way
Asking forgiveness for my part
In the destruction
For our unhealthy ways
Bodies and lands have been stolen
We have always been this vulnerable
We can't eat money
Or buy health
From where will our richness come?
What will be our currency
How will we extend ourselves to the ones
who are buried beneath the ground?
Whose children will we feed
When death has claimed us?
We cannot be free
Until all of us
are freed
So let’s consider each other
As we never have before
And find comfort in our unity
Let the fear root us down
Into a deeper meaning
A humbleness
And a truth we all crave
We are one