a level of separation

sometimes there's a weight
on your back
and it becomes hard to stand.

so much pressure weighing down,
pushing, maintaining a void
inside yourself
that you're afraid to fall, and
you're afraid to get back up
if you should stumble.

but the weight builds.
it's always there.
it comes disguised as problems,
issues too hard to face,
places from childhood
that are dark, yet always lit up
in the back of your mind.
it comes from wondering about
the decisions you've made
along the way.
it comes from being a young
adult, a 30 something, a middle aged
something or other, elderly,
too old to know better.

it comes from all the things tossed
upon your shoulders that never really have
any true meaning, just labels thrown around
by those that believe they know the way.

racist, god fearing, right wing,
left wing, conspiracy theorist,
bigot, bold, beautiful, too fat, too thin,
marked for death, prodigy, loser,
lover, tamed, tried, sinful,
science, damaged ...

all the labels by those
who try to absorb
what they can not possibly understand
in any other way.

they give it a name,
make it stronger than it should be,
treat it like an infection,
tell you they have the cure.

they tell you that
certain lives matter to give the message
function, to cause separation,
hoping to make one issue clear
while driving all the other issues
out of focus.

they run on issues of hope and change.
they begin endless wars,
confident struggles
without end.

they make sweeping promises
to lower taxes,
increase education,
and take away the powers of the wealthy.

they'll tell you
there's a war over race,
but it is only perpetuated by those
that they allow into power.

because, you see,
if they can get you to believe
in an endless struggle,
they can keep you in the dark forever
while they build more bombs.
they can keep you at each others throats
indefinitely, and keep the factories
running to supply the soldiers
on both sides.

all they need to do is
maintain a level of separation,
and we will do the rest.