Love and Community

I remember when I fell in love with eagles and oaks trees, 
with green grass, warm summers, and fireworks.

I fell in love with what now is brushwood for a fire 
that red white and blue decided to ignite.

In the present to come, there is no light 
We are at the maw of a tunnel and we cannot see the end

But tunnels must have ends
and fires must go out

There is not enough air to burn
forever
Not enough earth to continue
forever

I remember eagles and trees and grass
fireworks and summers
and love

the absence of love is what drives madness

the existence of absolute power
is the absence of love

I miss loving and having the world love back
I miss every memory of a past

Shielded in golden light and haze
fantasy but used to be reality

I miss love and community.

The tunnel will have an end,
when love digs us out

The fire will stop burning,
when community puts it out

political power will seem inconsequential
to the power we hold with love

Hate cannot drown us out
Not when we fill up every crack and oversight
with all the love we can muster

We must fight, yes
with force and might and pain

But we will continue because of love

we will continue because of community

we will continue until we see that light
at the end of the tunnel

and we have only just begun to fight.