You Were a Witness
You were a witness to the injustice
but stood silent, said not a word
You tell yourself “But I thought!”
Yes you did, but no one could hear you.
You tell yourself
“I have seen the flowers grow
I have planted, I have cared
I have done my small part”
You have, but you have also were mute
or worse, you have ignored.
You have put yourself
above what you knew in the moment was wrong
You have stood witness,
and it haunts you, and that is good.
It is how you know that you are alive.
How you know that you are human.
How you know that you may
Someday yet still act.
Someday find redemption.
Peter Kaczmarczyk, raised in Massachusetts, was willing to leave the comfort of Red Sox country when he learned there were Dunkin Donuts in Indiana. His writing’s assisted by cats, who think they can do better than him by walking across the keyboard. Peter’s work has been included in over 60 journals and anthologies and he has published two chapbooks. He is co-creator of the Captain Janeway statue in Bloomington, Indiana.
The Marbled Sigh 