These Are the Things That Keep Me Up at Night

A Poem

Photo by Sasha Freemind on Unsplash

a cry heard ‘round the world,
a silver slip of tongue at midnight,
a siren’s voice breaking through the noise —
these are the things that keep me up at night

a dangerous void where a heart should be,
a militant meandering of empathy lost,
a consciousness of something man-made —
these are the things that keep me up at night

a vengeance where there should be love,
a silent pact between the greedy and the lost,
a universe spinning in webs of chaos rampant —
these are the things that keep me up at night

a violent uprising of wrongful righteousness,
a sanctum scorched with the scent of blood,
a tale so wicked of man’s misdeeds —
these are the things that keep me up at night

a hollow sense of self in the face of apathy,
a pattern of scars crisscrossed like lines on a map,
a woman’s pleas to be heard and seen and remembered —
these are the things that keep me up at night