What if it is time to be friends?
by Pauline Harris
(*)
From a young age
and maybe long before
There was a division
We knew of it
All of our knowing lives
We never questioned it
For it was long accepted
And yet we cling
To wanting all to be free
Free to speak
Free to work
Free to travel
Equal justice for all
And yet we cling
To this belief
That some are not
Because we hold them
To the values we were taught
We hold them to the history
That holds them hostage
In a way it holds us hostage, too
For we are not permitted
To speak freely with them
Nor about them
We cannot freely visit them
No moving forward
Without freedom on the table
And yet we cling
To what we have been told
We cannot be friends
Without looking back
Onto ourselves
We are all clinging
Onto that past
Without looking for
New ways forward
Toward friendship
Toward freedom
Toward equality
Solwhovian 