What have we lost?

There is blood on my hands,
there is blood on my chin as I speak,
there is blood on my teeth and on my tongue,
centuries of blood, from centuries of hate.

There is fire on the ground,
and there is fire eating away the strands of an American flag-
and there is fire eating the skin of a woman in a country,
who is not protected by red white and blue,
who is not protected from hate and judgement.
There is fire eating her hair and scalp and she cries,
for she has no freedom to even look up from beneath her veil.

There are petition signs stacked beside the building,
there are dirty bodies on the streets refusing to leave,
until something is done about animal rights, and animal cruelty.
There are people lighting candles in the name of the dead,
'Make peace not war' are their outraged cries.
But they can go home each night to their homes,
and sleep in a warm bed beneath warm sheets,
and turn out their lights and dream of what they will become.

They will not dream about scraps of rice on the ground,
they will not dream of clean water raining on their malnourished lips.
They will not dream of a piece of dried bread,
they will not think this is the best they have ever found,
because they will not know.

What is the price we pay to be able to burn our symbols,
to move our bodies and cry for all the poor,
while we fill ourselves with organic labels and animal friendly costumes.
Who are we destroying with our car rides to protests,
who are we destroying by closing down companies,
that pay others in foreign countries to do their work.
American made is what we cry, but are we really working for the greater good?

What greater good?
The greater good for our pursuit of happiness,
or the greater good to stop the deaths of women-
who can't even leave their house without men-
to assist them down the street.

What have we lost to gain these rights?
We have lost our humanity, and our breath-
we have lost the ability to see beyond our souls,
we are blinded by our ignorance.