space for hope

not tens but hundreds
not hundreds but thousands
not toys but real people
---...flesh and blood
i wasn't gifted with sound eyes
but something inside me
saw those...clearly

not hundreds but thousands
not thousands but millions
not records but real voices
---...rose in anguish
i wasn't gifted with sound ears
but something inside me
heard those...clearly

i saw the flesh---the blood
i heard the cry---the pain
though numbness filled my system
---...i saw and heard
saw and heard those clearly
but something inside me
whispered...be silent

though i saw the flesh and the blood
though i heard the cry of pain
though it's unmistakably clear
---...i couldn't do a thing
it's these eyes...and these ears
and it's the something inside me
who couldn't...who wouldn't

how can i---in the midst
of the crowd's altercation
in a world once a haven
---...now desolated and forlorn
how can i in the midst
of the deafening silence
of unexplainable darkness

i have a heart---a heart once cold
i have a soul---a soul once lost
i know, i know, i feel i have
---...with all these
i saw and heard and felt
but something inside me
just couldn't...wouldn't

i tried so many times
many many many times
but i just couldn't
---...couldn't help though i tried
not ten times but hundreds
not hundreds but thousands
not thousands but millions.