Why am I left here standing while my friends crumble to their knees?
It’s not that I do not know the shadows or the wind
Fogs roll around me but my skin does not absorb their toxin
Instead I look to the water’s edge
See obscured, grimaced forms of once familiar faces
And try as I might I can’t wipe away the spray
And friendly hands turn to mist in my grip
I can only see the pain
Caused by this plague of corrosive mind and boiling blood
Feel the burn on the barest tips of my fingers
Never better have I understood the sensation of standing before a burning bush
Only now it’s my friends on fire
I stand behind a wall of Light
Uncertain of why I’ve been chosen to fight
From this side
All I can do is offer a flat palm
Let my presence be known
Spotlighted and empty handed like so many before me
In my dreams did I whisper send me?
A calm history
Attempted empathy
The curse of seeing clearly
While the earth and its creatures shatter around me
I am the one to know best how poorly
I’ve handled this
When I should be the most equipped
If only the Light could help me see
Through the wall of water that separates me
I could give my hand and pull out
Pharaoh’s armies from the sea
Composed 12/30/18
Scraps of Paper 