A wild world exists outside my window.
Strange voices permeate the sanctity of home – volatile, mad, and unfamiliar.
Our previous life, a study in docility, has been quickly obliterated from existence.
Everyday has become learning new ways to survive.
Our struggles have transformed us into involuntary warriors –
Combatants towards civility – unwitting witnesses to a life now deplorable.
There is no looking back.
Our backs will strengthen both in tolerance and anger.
Our souls harden in a daily war against those who once endured, fought, and lost.
We fall in line behind those obedient fools – unable to find the way back to then.
Soon, we too will trample over the innocent quiet voices – their tones foreign to our ears.
We will mock, smile, and exist – while they fall apart.

- by Michael Weems