What of me is bleeding?

All of me is bleeding.

What of me is grieving?

All of me is grieving.

What of me is silent?

All of me is silenced

all about me prayer:

urgent emergings

rising from my soil;

itching surprises,

nothing surrounding;

ladened rebellions,

the Wind espousing;

needful pairing,

all of me journeying;

I walk stumbling.

Someone's on the Way.

"Come toward me

all you weary ones,

I will wash your feet."

*Reflections of Gil Bailie:

-...we must not...ask of people to drop their truth-claims at the door.  We must not ask Muslims to stop being Muslim in order to have a democracy.  And likewise, we Christians should  not be expected to drop our Christianity in order to engage in that conversation.  I think it's much healthier, and more inspired to be charitable, if we acknowledge those differences and learn to love each other in spite of them - and in some way because of them.

-Violence is part of the world we live in, so it has to be part of art in some way.

-...I would say that if the depiction of violence is going to be healthy for us, it should result in our experience of compassion, our sense of the pitiableness of the human condition. 

And 2morrow

Today is filled with anger

Fueled with hidden hate 

Scared of being outcast

Afraid of common fate

Today is built on tragedies

which no one wants 2 face

Nightmares 2 humanities

and morally disgraced

Tonight is filled with rage

Violence in the air

Children bred with ruthlessness

Because no one at home cares

Tonight I lay my head down

But the pressure never stops

gnawing at my sanity

content when I am dropped

But 2morrow I c change

a chance 2 build anew

Built on spirit, intent of heart

and ideals based on truth

And 2morrow I wake with second wind

and strong because of pride

2 know I fought with all my heart 2 keep my dream alive

-Tupac Shakur