Cinder and Ash

There is a black fire that reigns upon this land It burns beyond the red and yellow flames Dead and done to skies of cinder and ash To choke voices in the dread of darkest hours We struggle to empower our meaning While the giving light of hope Rides on the slope of choice in its bond to truth And now lays reposed to guide In the blighted dead of smoke and lies A living fallacy this madness Our demise battles with our sullen cries As our soul's sadness clings To the countless sacrifice For equality in the decades of man With great boundless fading grief This disempowering shore of insanity Opens its door with no relief from the exercise of hate To suffocate liberty To implore our beliefs with crushing weight To have us flounder at the shores of possibility Taking our final breath, our truth and freedom to restore August 14, 2020 Be Inspired Poetry Contest Sponsored by Regina McIntosh