–for Tatiana R. and her Frida Kahlo quote
In the normal course of events,
we spend our time
figuring out what love is,
and how to do it;
trying to find
the keys to the universe’s workings;
wandering galleries,
breathless with the beauty;
learning how to
do good and do well.
How do we find love
in this world
when it’s smoldering?
How our lives shrink
in the face of this hate
and the poverty of spirit and pocket!
Beauty becomes, at best,
a refuge, impossible for us
to create ourselves,
when all that’s left
is to head off evil
and put out burning mosques.
This rank perfidy
is not just a distraction.
It is the murder of youth,
the murder of love,
the murder of contentment,
the murder of civilization.
Only righteousness remains,
a seed to grow
after the consuming fire to come.
February 1st, 2017, Harlem, New York
