Poems of The Redeemed

Shoes of Another

 I wake to yet another day of pain. Misery and sorrow follow in my wake. The sun's searing heat scorches my face; while the sand burns my feet away. Hunger naws everyday, what use is it to even pray? Mother says it'll all be okay, yet my brother just died yesterday. Why me I ask, as I drink from a dirty flask. The rivers the only way, oh how tiresome when it's miles away.

I met a different type of man the other day. White with disgust on his face. Why must it be this way, why am I treated this way? Mother says it's because of my skin, and where we live. I don't understand, doesn't he realize i'm just trying to survive this harsh land.

Mother died today; I'm left alone in the world on this day. I lay down and cry myself to sleep, pain rooted so deep. Then one man offered to take it away. Come with me he said, I'll protect you if you fight for me. I take his hand and fall into a different kind of realm.

A realm full of fear, hate, and drugs. Soon I forget my brother, and my mother; all that is left is an hollowed shell that used to be. I take lives just to get high, blood drenches my hands. Oh look at what I have become, a monster worse than the scorching sands. Why did the white man have disgust in his eyes? I have had no choice in what I've been made. All I ask for is someone to understand, i'm just lost in the never ending sands. 

-Bryce McEndree