Tell me

By David Michael Jackson

I Will Try Not To Tell You

Why do I feel this way today.
Don't the birds still sing?
Isn't the sky still blue in the mist of the morning?
Tell me that the rivers still flow
that the wind still rustles the leaves
and the snow still graces the mountain peaks
and I will try not to tell you
of the hungry children
and their swollen bellies.
and how our lives
are covered
with the soot
of the fires of hope
Tell me how the despair of summer's end
is necessary
is essential
to the birth of spring
and I will try not to tell you
of the bombs we made
in the midst of all of this
beauty