"Brother"

What is there to say, when there can be no compromise?

What more can I do when all I have done so far has come to naught?

I have, in turn, screamed and railed against you,

held aloft the olive branch, fed you, a guest at my table 

and faced you, the lion in his den.

Yet I was accused, tried and sentenced before I ever spoke a word.

You think yourself my judge and juror, but you could never be my jailer.

The walls you have built, made of gold,
you think they protect you and bolster you,

but they are your prison.

You try to shut me out, pretend I do not exist.

Illogical, irrational, insane, but

I pity you, for your heart has turned to stone

and I am still here, at your side, bound by oath.

What will you prove in the end?

What do you think will happen?

That I will fade away, exhausted and defeated?

That you will be hailed a winner?  There are no winners in war

and I am not your enemy.

I fear I will never understand you, 

but as long as we are shackled this way,

I can do nothing else but try.

You are the mountain, silent and immovable,

but I am the ocean, patient and eternal.


- K.M. 2007