We are the watchers

We see but never speak, we hear but never act.

We see the signs, we read the cardboard pleas, we see the broken faces, but we do not outstretch our hands.

We have seen the worst of mankind, when he thinks he is alone and safe.

We have seen the stains he washes from his palms, we have seen the drain.

We have seen the tissue caught between his teeth.

We watch and we see.

We are awake, exhausted from the insomnia of our vigil.

We stand, trembling at the emotion that boils out of our souls.

We have begged, in silence, for our eyes to be closed, once more.

We have torn our hair from our scalp, our skin from our bones, in the agony the truth brings.

We long for the sweet silence of ignorance, the dull haze of overdose on oblivion.

We have sought for the peace we once thought existed.

The moments before we doubted, before we knew.

Before we knew the truth.

Before we saw the truth.

Truth, we were told, would set us free.

Our chains would be broken and we would walk in green pastures.

But the land has been paved over and the chains are still here.

They just belong to someone else.

How could we have walked away? How could we let those not strong enough carry them on their own?

We are awake, and the dream never ends.

The insomnia, the endless moving forward, the endless night.

We are lost as we hold the map, we are drowning as we hold the boat.

We are broken.

We cannot die, we cannot stop, we will not break our vigil.

There is more than we can bear to see, but we watch.

Our eyes give the silent witness to what is given, to what is taken.

We watched as you killed.

Your banks are filled with the cries of the lost.

We watched as you denied the mother her children,

And as you denied the children their mothers.

We watched as you weighed one man against another.

We watched as you presented us with life on your TV screens,

In black and white.

We saw you hold the almighty paper over the heads of thousands.

We watched as you encouraged them to reach for it while holding down their feet.

“The world needs ditch-diggers” you said.

We watched as you told the young girls they had to keep the child they didn’t want.

And we watched them struggle, baby in hand, because you would not give them the help the needed.

We watched as you ended the deaths of the unborn, so you could kill them later with policy.

We watched you preach to love our fellow man,

But your words fell short, broken by the shouted judgements on your tongue.

We watched as you dazzled us with your melting pot treasures.

You lured them forward while you quietly closed the doors behind them.

We watched your young men and women, march in your name.

We watched as their faces turned from pride to horror.

We watched you give them medals and honors to make them forget.

We watched as you shook their hands and slammed the doors.

We watched them as they cried, as their tears soaked their pillows each night.

Did you?

We carry the weight of the soldier,

The single mother,

The desperate mother,

The poor,

the marginalized,

the disillusioned,

the jumpers,

the junkies,

those who love a man,

those who love a woman,

those who are white,

those who are black,

those who are human,

those who are surrounded,

those who are alone,

those who fear the dark,

those who fear the light,

those who are asleep,

and those who are awake.

Their chains keep us motionless, but be warned, we are not blind, nor are we deaf.

We are the watchers,

And we have seen all.
© Nichole Proctor