american tragic

I was there when the waters receded

I was there when the city was homeless
it's streets empty like FEMA's promises
houses smashed like the dreams of their owners
into a million razor edged pieces, shards

of a broken mirror that we'd all peered into
hoping to find our slice of the american pie but
now that it was broken
we avoided our reflections

we bowed our heads
and prayed for divine intervention
for fear that love thy neighbor
might become a call to action

I was there when the waters receded

and I cried
the only way
a grown man can
silently and alone

my tears sprung from a well
deeper than my experience
and flowed backward through time
where they were salted with centuries of despair

I was there when the waters receded

and I cursed God
for turning a blind eye
toward his children
and in my condemnation
I became blind

not realizing
that if I picked up the pieces
of that broken dream mirror
and peered into it with eyes wide open

I'd find an entire city
looking back at me
and
that if I gazed long enough
I'd find the sacred

right where it's always been