May 30, 2020/January 6, 2022

IT'S BEEN

ONE YEAR, SEVEN MONTHS

FIVE HUNDRED, EIGHTY-SEVEN DAYS.

EIGHTY-THREE WEEKS, SIX DAYS

FOURTEEN THOUSAND, EIGHTY-EIGHT HOURS

FIVE MILLION, SEVEN HUNDRED SIXTEEN THOUSAND, EIGHT HUNDRED SECONDS

SINCE MY LIFE WAS STOLEN FROM ME.

I can't count the number of teardrops that have fallen upon my face or those that dripped into my ears as I must have wept as I slept.

Tears were in my ears when I would awake some mornings.

I can't count the number of heartbeats...

I do know my heart's been beaten.

Have you ever wept as you slept?

Woke up with tears dripping down the sides of your head into your ears?

Have you ever been woken from a safe, sound sleep by grenades and flashes of bright light at midnight in your neighborhood?

Are you able to forget the most traumatic event/s of your life?

Have you ever been so afraid because after of weeks violence on YOUR street, you cowered in a dark bathroom, for hours, curled in a ball in the back of the tub wrapped in a blanket (in July) sobbed, and rocked yourself until the violence subsided followed by a haunting silence?

Have you fallen to your knees, begging a God you no longer understand to perform a miracle and just make the violence stop?

Have you helplessly watched angry rioters set fires around your home, watch the flames climb, 20-30 feet, and not have the Fire Dept. be able to respond?

Have you been innocently tear-gassed sitting inside your home?

Suffered a severe asthma attack as a result and know if you call for an ambulance, chances are high EMT's won't be able to respond?