I fortify my heart
against the loud and clamorous voices
that speak untruths -
against the hearts that have no love in them,
against the hearts that have no love in them,
who seek to divide and disappear
the most vulnerable among us -
against those promoting hate
who have forgotten there is no Other,
only Us.
I fortify my heart
against despair, against hopelessness,
against surrendering the rights
that we hold dear,
that are vanishing week by week.
I fortify my heart by believing
more of us seek justice, truth, and humanity
than those sliding into the pit
of fascism, not understanding
that they, too, will suffer
under its yoke.
I fortify my heart
by understanding that the arc of justice
is long, that the universe tilts itself
towards light, and goodness, and justice,
and that one day, when all of this madness
has done its worst, there will be a time
of reckoning, of healing,
of restoring what has been lost,
of restoring what has been lost,
a time when peace and dignity will return
to a continent that has forgotten
who we are and who
we are meant to be.
For now,
I resist.
I resist.
I resist.
I resist.
I resist.
I resist.
I resist, but I also experience much grief at the state of the world, and outrage at all the injustice. But because everything is so dark, I have had to learn to protect myself by striving for balance, finding solace in nature - and also understanding that the pendulum swings from one side to the other, and that this will not be our forever reality - if humankind survives this difficult passage. I have to believe that truth and justice will - eventually - prevail. The North American spirit is used to being free.
