With your mouth to stop my sleep
I be as silent as the grave
Cheek by jowl
I hunger for the truth
unlike this silent appareil
that devoids the last spiders return
Those who die unjustly
because of bigotry
because of prejudice
because of unadulterated hate
are never silent
their blood cries out
like the blood of innocent Abel
the anguished cries
"I can't Breathe"
"I'm going to die"
rise
rise
up past the blue skies
to the ear of the almighty Judge
who hears
who weeps
who waits
the Day of Judgement
when all the innocent slain
will live again
and all
who have murdered
who have watched
who have been silent
will answer
the cries of the risen ones
for they WILL speak and say...
"What had we done
that you saw fit
to snuff out our lives
to suffocate out of hate
to pin to the ground
to grind our faces into the dirt
the pain, the hurt
you didn't hear
out of fear
you brought us low
and now, we know
our Defender is near
Judgement Day is here
Why? oh why
did color matter
and not character?
why did ethnicity label
instead of enable
beautiful diversity.
Answer, answer now
No...Wait...be silent as the grave
Listen as we inhale...exhale
Now...Now we can breathe free!"
Eileen Manassian
In honor of George Floyd
Your vow of silence one day you will break
You’ll come to know you’ve made a grave mistake
The love I gave you, why did you forsake?
There’s nothing left in me for you to take
For this is true and this you must confess
Not one gave more to you in tenderness
No other one on earth could love as I
I’m left here all alone to wonder why
I’m silent now, as silent as the grave
What’s left of wounded heart, you cannot save
So mourn for me and love you never gave
With mortal wound I stand, silent and brave.
With its silvery veil the moon's pallid sheen
Spectrally cloaks and invests all the homes
Transformed into midnight mausoleums
While those who sleep within can never be seen
As cold as the tomb
As miserable as a morgue
As silent as the grave
As the sheathing of a sword.
The dark shades of night unfold
Where they lie deep shrouded in their beds
Dreams dance lively in their heads
While they look like bodies cold.
Closed to all are the eyes of their resting places
Blinded to outside view
Wrapped in night's dark blue
But within their still frames R.E.M races
Outside in the gloom wreathed like hearses
Stand their silent polished cars in rows
In preparation for sadder blows
When funereal will be the verses.
the humming of a needle
drumming up and down
the pressure on the skin
humming the only sound
etched into the skin
the mark of only me
devastatingly unique
if the eyes will only see
eyes darting around
how to release the pain
embarrassed of my bravery
there is to be no shame
my life dreams
summed up in a tattoo
freedom is the ultimate goal
and maybe wisdom too
one lone owl stands alone
silent as the grave
poor old lonely solider
but fortune favours the brave
final complete
an eternity in an hour
relief was the aftershock
relief was my power.
Sand’s time slips through my fingers
Separating now from then
And me from him
Him, silent as the grave
The petty pace creeps on
The rain still falls
An echo of yesterday fades
Lost in the face of death
Silently enveloping all in
Empty misery
No more strut or fret anymore
Not even a fair hour on stage
But never, never ‘merely’ a player
He was so much more
A friend
The sands of time
Cruel harbingers of fate
Trickling away,
To the last syllable of recorded time
And nothingness
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