Broken

To the family that is broken
Generations of pain
Of hurt upon hurt
Of jealousy and hate
Of turmoil and loss
Of suffering heaped upon suffering

Is there no end to this madness?
Can the cycle not be broken?
What can be done?
When ears and eyes have been shut so tight
That blue is black and black is blue
And what you say is not what hear you

Stop the madness, stop it I say
Someone please, just put their foot down
Grab them by the collar
Get into their face
And tell them its not ok
That there is no excuse
To treat them this way

Someone of weight
Of power and grace
Someone who knows truth
When it stares them in the face

What makes it ok?
How have you justified it?
Rationalized it down
So that you feel protected
In this shell that you have created for yourself
For it is safe in there
It is what you know after all

But you cannot grow
If you hold onto the past
This much I know to be true
Once must learn to forgive and forget
Not for the other’s sake
But for one’s own
Break through the shell

And what you will find
Will surprise you in its beauty
And peace and warmth
A place of forgiveness
A place to heal
In the warmth of light
That showers those who take this road
Keeps them company along the loneliest of paths

For in the final analysis
What one comes to understand
Is that he and she
Are nothing more than reflections of you
And knowing such
Why would you harm them? Make them hurt so?

Breathe the sigh of relief
Absorb the pain
Collect it in your heart
And let it go with love
Burn through the pain
And release the shadows of the world

Can one even imagine
The power that could be unleashed upon the world
If we all just stopped in our tracks
And stopped the insanity
Not in the world or in our country
But in our own homes and workplaces
In our towns and communities
In our schools and shops
Our bakeries and bars
Our brothels and beer gardens
And Irish Pubs too

Bring the love with you
And root it in understanding
And perhaps just perhaps
We may find
That we can build a better world
Despite ourselves