Almost - Gail Onion

[Lawrence Robinson]

Almost

Almost lulled away by the merciless ease
of lascivious destruction.
Almost, but not quite numb, 
forgetting how wretched it is,
how the stench of premeditated shameless cruelty 
is thick, stultifying, insatiable, consuming.
Almost turned away, groggy, drugged 
by the fear. 
Almost asleep on my duty to warn,
to keep vigilant, keep witnessing,
Almost stepped to the side and back, over the muck
and scat and the crime against all living things. The Crime!
Almost believed i could do nothing.
Almost, but the screams of the dying, anguished children 
and women, and the innocent others woke me up.
The homeless freezing in the coffins of their skin
woke me up.
The daily suffering beyond measure
woke me up.
The lies, excoriating our earth woke me up.
The beauty of the earth, Oh beautiful for spacious skies,
woke me up. 
The terrible grins on the faces, of those selling their souls
to billionaires woke me up.
The thought that even our grief will be taken
from us, even our grief! woke me up.
The thought of what the evil has done already,
the lethal cuts, slicing the world into pieces.
woke me up.
So, I tell my pain and my tears ,
more much more, pour out the lot,
whatever it takes,

to keep us awake.

	- Gail Onion