"Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore."
Andre Gide

Ache

Cowering in darkened corners
Throbbing in melodious depravity
Traumatizing, odious whispers
Piquing of delayed brevity
Boring through mist layered
Threatening of unleashed sanity

Unraveled

Deteriorating democracy
Hating the hypocrisy
Condescending complacence
Isolated in ignorance

Riot enraged rivalry

Blanketed by bigotry
Resistant to recognize
Diminished to demonize

Ideological irony
Reaffirms our reality
Reeling from repugnant rhetoric
Fraying the social fabric
Polluting society's pillars
Tempering tenuous triggers
Marred media in the midst
Communities challenged to coexist

Afflicted with adversity
Challenge critics civilly
Be bold but don't bicker
Be better not bitter
Seek strength in solidarity
Protest into policy
Delve to decry this disease
Pry to provoke peace

"Nothing fixes a thing so intensely in the memory as the wish to forget it."
Michel De Montaigne

Oath

My promise to you is to keep our love anew
To never leave you lost, mislead or confused
Though I dread of lacking strength this is not my excuse
You deserve reprieve from my internal feud
In you I see a steady resilient soul
I envy its disobedience while I struggle to control
The bitter bites of unwarranted vitriol
To refrain from spite and amplify the trivial
You have my hand to hold through the strife
You have my love I've pledged for life 

Listless

Sometimes I wish you could see me
As a damaged and broken human being
Would you still love me after knowing
How my nightmares feel more like an epiphany
These fears they awaken the deepest vices
Each year they beckon a challenging crisis
They push and they pull only to test the promises
So taxing are the attacks they keep me listless
It begs to come and then off it goes
The subdued ebb and the meandering flow
Each step a wayward dance, each note a dull tone
Each smile a layered chance to keep my happiness in tow

Reality

this is our reality
it's become a textbook tragedy
the only thing that changes are the victims and their families
the bullets, they'll keep flying
the pundits will keep blaming
aiming their cross hairs with a callous glare to keep the media streaming
how much is the toll
how greedy is society
as we scroll down our news feed and merely wince in apathy
are we morally bankrupt to keep looking away
lest we stray from the corrupted comfort of our own naivete