I Count Them - To Our Nation's Children

Every step you take haunts me I count them each morning you toss to avoid the searing sun I count them as if each ray ends in trickles of our unsavoury sweat I count them as days that have sown my endless regrets I count them for you and I count them for the odious nature of the emptiness in all of us I count them too, as they perish like flies... denied the chance to further infect irony, to inflict further harm, by the end of everything There are times days are shortest in summer I count them, And the fear that I do not know how to make life love you more They seem as infinite as the cliff that perilously retains your distracted mind It's easier to count the joys between the moments of dread Between the nightly screams of unwanted new life I count the days till they are you and someone counts their diminishing dreams There are times when night nestles beside me and seeks its own redemption I count them, In fear darkness will soon yield, when I have lost count... and storms count for me