Love and Community

Love and Community

I remember when I fell in love with eagles and oak 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.

Jaquiraear563

VT

17 years old

twoblueviolets

OH

15 years old

The Voice

February 2025

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