Do Not Assume

my heart is always heavy, hurting

living here where another headline

becomes background noise against attacks

of greater magnitude

injustices that before, long before

we would have only seen as stories, warnings

fables whispered over little sleeping heads

and in my silence I retract

I retread my bedding, settle in the groove

where I might protect all that I feel powerful

enough to really protect;

this heart. This bleeding, heavy heart

that with each beat pumps forth promise

painful promises of hope

and of wonder

and of sheer awe towards the human spirit

and of my sisters and brothers

who keep cradling their own

quietly into the new day where the news does not

change for the better

but still we remain

but still we look towards the sky.