***

Parades like a peacock

Around social circles

Inside he hides humility

That won’t show in his purpose

*

Fading fast in heavy grass

Head down as the tale perks up

His pride won’t die, he has ability

Because of love in surplus

*

Nothing done wrong

Life like a song

Just Peace and Love he worships

**

Obeys the hand he got

Ignores social knock-offs

Aim to prove all he sees

Their bluff to him: a lost cause

*

She rakes in wins as he begins

But they make him nervous

Her cry inside no others see

Because no tears will turn up

*

No fallen rain

A hidden pain

No truth can be as pure as

**

Amazing claim he makes now

Desperate to connect

Stakes a life on dreams

At least ones he can protect

*

Lends his ears to love he hears

Music and folk he respects

Strength resides in bends and slides

Quick-picking flies how he reflects

*

A web she weaves

He never leaves

His soul she resurrects

**

Sustains breath in his sprit

and prays no one objects

Here, there and everywhere

Simple jealousy upsets

*

Each day-to-day he lives and pays

Experience he can’t forget

Skeptics unfairly stop and stare

What they don’t get, they reject

*

View of the sun

We each have one

The image that projects

**

Home is where the heart is

Everywhere we go

But if our heart is hidden

Home we may never know

*

She was treated wrong

All day long

When she reached out

They turned away

*

Rules of fools

Didn’t allow

True words she would say

*

So her heart

Was hidden away

and her shadow came to play

**

Chastised like a spider

At home an outsider

Inside she hides humility

That’s what they’ve denied her

*

All she tried they’ve defied

They aren’t the ones to guide her

Her pride won’t die

Peacefully

She needs a web that’s wider

*

Create a norm

Instate a storm

Include each and every rider

**

Invading as a glider

Social justice-minded

Applied fine agility

To find a spot beside her

*

Caring wide for those he spied

Sharing words that wouldn’t chide her

In moments they had solidarity

But our system is the great divider

*

No human bond

Or care beyond

The majority decider

**

Rain could still immerse us

In our social circles

Lives with more tranquility

Trapped beneath the surface

*

The pain’s the same as curses

Unspoken words or verses

Public codes of civility

Stigma will never nurse us

*

Feeling unsaid

Love left for dead

While the richest fill their purses

**

A bright bird becomes demure

Larger-than-life tourist

Why project misery?

Their caring is the surest

*

The purest words are rarely heard

From social usurpers

Power lies with such hostility

Our culture kills or cures us

*

We need magic

That isn’t tragic

Kindness that conjures us

**

Kind is a heart making good

Anywhere it goes

But if a heart is hidden

Hope may never show

*

He was treated wrong

All day long

When he reached out

They made him pay

*

Fuelled by rules

They sat and frowned

True words they wouldn’t say

*

So their hearts

hid away

and his shadow came to play

**

Day fades far behind trees

Beyond social safety

In night they fight fragility

Boundary in dreams

*

Goals of peace just won’t cease

Labeled disordered or diseased

Kindness treated as disability

Blind system is a beast

*

No caring voice

Or sharing joys

Blood-thirsty rich do as they please

**

Moon peaks past tired trees

Mirrors social deep-freeze

Awake always in fear’s proximity

Tears shine and can’t appease

*

Lone star greets, Our eye meets

Adheres to day’s defeats

Strive to stifle anxiety

Vision with no light cheats

*

Save grace

To change this place

Fierce Hope never retreats

**

Sunrise with acute focus

Today still seems dangerous

No social responsibility

Politician rich and famous

*

Those we chose no one opposes

Approach a door and it closes

Attack a lack of accountability

So clear no one chose this

*

Pride past dollars

Lifelong scholars

Stigma in control imposes

**

Disgrace that is ludicrous

Unfairly overtaken indigenous

Allies denied connectivity

Kind people treated heinous

*

Striking poses and We know this

Few between truly show this

Pray, don’t say “futility”

Optimism thrives like roses

*

Ever-fertile Earth

Cultural rebirth

Sun and moon that tows us

**

Home is where the heart is

Everywhere we go

If our hearts are hidden

Home we never know

*

People treated wrong

For so long

Try to reach out

But get turned away

*

Rules uncool

Not allowing

True words we have to say

*

So our hearts

Get hidden away

Embrace the place where shadows stay

***