1 Right 10 Lives

“We’ll stop climate change! End homelessness!

Ensure healthcare for all!”

Empty promises all whirling around

In a whirlpool of lost calls.

 

Everything building, building up

Until we stop and look around

But we’ve stranded ourselves atop a peak of lies

And there’s nowhere to go but down.

 

Safety precautions and structures built

Everything made to fit

But nothing is happening, nothing they promised

The fire is never lit.

 

So much work, so much effort

Just to have it all destroyed

Everything must return to its origins-

That’s something we can’t avoid.

 

Let the skin scraped off our hands

Let the blisters on our feet

Let the many miles that we have hiked together

Be a memory not sour, but sweet.

​

Katherine Duan