Thunder rumbles like distant gun fire,
A broken heart sighs behind a smiling face.
An old woman’s shaky letters cry for life and love,
Words full of times and weariness, rest that has not come.
Birds dance in the rain, shaking off dust.
A teenage girl whispers a word in a crowded hallway
And fills another mind with kaleidoscopic dreams,
Secrets fulfilled; soft flesh.
Dry rivers mark deserts, hunger descends to hollow eyes;
A chorus of cries can not penetrate the smiling evil of power.
Dry bones nestled in soft sand for others to find,
The poetry of need crushed by the metal wall of self.
Pray the rains come and dissolve the walls.
Pray the sunlight cracks the hardness.
Pray that soft words balm the wound that festers still,
Pray that silence stirs to sound, that stasis turns to motion.
Pray we step from the porch hands held, voices raised
Love aroused to wake the gray day.
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About michaelstephendaigle
I am the author of the award-winning Frank Nagler Mystery series. "The Swamps of Jersey (2014); "A Game Called Dead" (2016) -- a Runner-Up in the 2016 Shelf Unbound Indie Author Contest; "The Weight of Living" (2017) -- “The Weight of Living” was awarded First Place for mysteries in the 2017 Royal Dragonfly Book Award contest;
Named A Notable 100 Book, Shelf Unbound 2018 Indie Book Awards;
Named a Distinguished Favorite, 2018 Independent Press Awards.
Named a Distinguished Favorite in the 2018 Big NYC Book Contest.
Named a Finalist in the 2019 Book Excellence Awards.
Named A Gold Star Award winner in the 2020 Elite Choice Book Awards
Named a Book Award Winner in 2021 by Maincraft Media Fiction Book Awards;
The Red Hand (2019) a Distinguished Favorite in the 2019 Big NYC Book Contest
Named Second Place winner for mysteries in the 2019 Royal Dragonfly Book Awards
Named a Notable 100 Book in the 2019 Shelf Unbound Indie Book Awards
Named a Distinguished Favorite in the 2020 Independent Press Awards
A Nominee in the 2020 TopShelf Book Awards
Named A Gold Star Award winner in the 2020 Elite Choice Book Awards
Dragony Rising (2022) First Place for Mysteries in the 2022 Royal Dragonyfly Book Awards; named a Notable 100 Indie Book in the 2022 Shelf Unbound Indie Book Awards; A Distinguished Favorite in the 2023 Independent Press Awards. A Distinguished Favorite in the 2023 Big NYC Book Awards.
