I’ve been trying to wrap my head around this week’s happenings, but it’s a slow go. This is only part of what’s going on in my brain these days, and while this sounds dark, I haven’t totally lost the light. I just need some kindling to build it up again.

 Losing The Light


 Was it only a week ago
 that I entered the new year
 with a renewed feeling of hope?
 The year from hell had ended,
 a new president had been elected,
 and new vaccines to fight Covid 19
 were on their way.
 I knew everything wasn't  
 going to change overnight,
 but I felt lighter, somehow,  
 like things were going to be all right.
 
 
 Then this week happened,
 bringing a new day that would live in infamy—
 January 6, 2021.
 Instead of being lifted by
 what I thought was a light  
 at the end of the tunnel,
 the hope I'd felt was smashed
 when I was struck head-on  
 by a screaming locomotive of sedition
 crashing into our democracy.  
 
 
 Domestic terrorists poorly disguised
 as protesters stormed the Capitol,
 bringing destruction and death,
 incited by an orange madman
 who cannot accept that the majority
 cast their votes for someone else,
 someone with more experience  
 and knowledge of what the office requires,
 someone who has read The Constitution  
 and understands that law is  
 by the people, for the people,
 not by a wannabe-king's demands.
 
 
 As horrible as this attempted murder
 of our democracy is,
 the idea that so many  
 of my fellow Americans
 applaud this behavior
 and cannot see they have been
 used by a con man
 who cares about nothing  
 but his own power and glory,  
 a man who feeds on their  
 fears and prejudices,
 at the expense of others,
 has broken my heart
 in a way it has never been broken before.
 
 
 I hope it can be mended,
 but fear I've lost the light.
 I pray someone will find it soon
 and shine a candle in the darkness.
 
 

~Elise Skidmore ©2021

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