Waking or Sleeping

She screams in the streets,
On every street corner I hear her,
From billboards to bus stops
From the homeless girl in the alley,
To the news I see on TV.

She cries, "Come to me all you who are weary and burden-laden,
Come to me, and find rest...
Yet the rest she offers is like that of the calm glass surface of a sea,
where storms rumble underneath.
The rest she offers is in exchange
For the torment of the soul.

She's the Harlot of the Age,
But with the face of an angel.
How come we don't hear her,
How come we don't see her?

We've plugged our ears and blinded our eyes,
Filled our stomachs to satiation,
Living bodies with deadened souls
To the raging, teeming, screaming humanity
Crying for breath,
Crying, HELP.

I hear her now, I hear her now!
A blood-curdling scream, igniting
Not pleasure, but terror.
Like children we become, huddled in a corner,
Rocking back and forth,
Hoping to drown out the noise.

I see her now, I see her now!
When I turn on the TV, while surfing the web,
When driving down the street, when ironing shorts
Labeled, 'Cambodia'.
When I see children playing on the playground.

I wonder, who's fallen prey?
They think they see an angel,
When it's been the devil all along.
Now I see her true face.
The abused girl on that playground,
The underfed mother of 3 sewing my shorts,
Wondering if she should listen to the Harlot and find other means...
The doors of houses, shutting out life.
Society, deaf to the lies & perversion,
Making the virtual their reality.

Is it fight or flight?
I can't decide.
Can I live life,
willing to hear and see the suffering & misery?
Or will I go back to sleep,
Joining the other unliving statues
That mark the ranks of our age.

HOPE
MERCY,
JUSTICE,
COMPASSION,
FORGIVENESS,
RIGHTEOUSNESS,
UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.

A flame flickers in my soul,
Will I let it burn?
Will YOU?