Six Feet Under

Oh, dear Mother
Six feet under
And nobody cared
Yet now the ground shakes
And the old are reborn
White hats fill these streets
Marching from door to door
“Recite the truth!”
“All hail the blood of the pure!”
“The blond toupe is our messiah!”
Yet these shouts aren’t the only fear
Your mighty winds have turned loose
Your floodgates are now broken
Oh, dear Mother, save us
We cry not for our self
Not for our children
For the skeletons have escaped
Someone left the closet door open
And none can contain
The guards have been recruited
Only to cry among us
Oh, dear Mother
Six feet under they were
Now here we lay
In our self made grave

© 2017 Jessica Santos

Hear Us, Love Us, Rescue Me

America’s greatest holiday and he’s away. Away on vacation with a family of his own? Some may consider it as such others call it his duty and right.

Meanwhile, I lie awake at night tossing and turning. I haven’t heard from him and I don’t expect to not for the next few days at least. You see, we’re on a schedule. Only once a week am I graced with his scruffy quiet voice as he whispers into my ear. But that’s only through an earpiece.

Seeing each other would be catastrophic and not for us but for the family who depends on him. The weight of the world is on his shoulders and I wouldn’t wish that feeling on my worst of enemies. It destroys a being, makes them lose their self. The small glimpses I see of him, I see the struggle.

Secretly, he wants to run away to the coast or to the tippy top of a mountain far from the demands of another. But, his knapsack holds him back. It’s filled with the memories and keepsakes of thousands depending on him.

So, he can’t come at my beck and call. He can’t lay by my side at peace. But, together, on opposite sides of the world, we can stare into the sky looking at the same sun, the same moon where I will pray for the slightest ease of pain that he may feel from a blast only feet away. And he will pray for the silence that the world must beg for.

Maybe together, he’ll come home someday.

Until then, I keep the porch light on and the bed warm so that when he does return, he’s more than welcomed to rest his weary spirit.

© 2017 Jessica Santos

Reminisce and Resolute

Soon the vast internet will be filled with New Year’s Resolutions about hopes and prayers but for now there are some deep in thought. We are not pondering the future or the present like many would tell us to do. We are reminiscing in the past.

This year has brought many hardships and happy tears. People have moved on to the heavenly skies and others have fell below the cracks. Some have learned how to walk, talk and sulk. Others are struggling to be.

Each and every one of us have experienced those struggles as well as many accomplishments even those who have just been born. They surpassed many obstacles in the womb only for more to be thrown at them. Perhaps they haven’t even left one battle yet. Perhaps they are like those of us who are in a constant battle to survive.

But the fact remains that we have endured this year with all of its death, tears, scratches and bruises.

We need to remember this year, not forget it. And that means we need to remember those who died in battle and all of those who were left forgotten. They showed us how human we are. They helped pave the road towards our humanity and that is our constant war because as we are drinking away the pain, blood and deceit, the road turns into black ice where we slide and eventually crash head first into the metal guard rails. That can’t be our fate.

So instead of raising a glass of bubbly champagne to the new year, I will raise a glass of water to my past and honor what I have learned. I will remember all of the terrible, neglectful and hurtful moments as well as the beauty, the joyful and the cherished moments so that this new year will be like none other.

Happy New Year 2017 and Congratulations 2016 for a year full of rewarding memories.

© 2016 Jessica Santos

Blood Oath

Blood runs through these veins
Red as the freedom shot through the sky
Blaring trumpets of battle sing
Clashing as one
Brother against brother
Sister against sister
Child against elder
The stories are the same

Men leave to fight
Physically they wage on
Women leave to fight
Mentally they charge forward
Both sides prepare to win
We are determined
Hard at work
Sweating with heated exhilaration

Separate but equal rang out
Fallen we have
Friends turn
Words are shouted through dense air
Actions spoke to the masses
Pick a side
But no matter where we stood
Blood was spilled

The heart beats a rhythm
It is visible and known
No one can control it
Unleashed
Wild
Untamed
It is infinite
It is true
Pumping thick red molasses
So why be bitter when love is sweet?

Comrades, enemies
Blood runs through these veins
Red as the freedom shot through the sky
Blaring trumpets of battle sing
Clashing as one
Brother against brother
Sister against sister
Child against elder
The stories are the same

© 2014 Jessica Santos