Re: What is your favorite poem?

By Kwame Dawes

FAITH 

for Nichol, Lorraine, Sherese, Lascelles, Glendon, Tricia, Renesha, Dave, Annesha and Paul. 

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for. The evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:11

The Seen Things

The news comes like a stone falling.
Suddenly all light is gone.
Outside the heat is black as loss.
Tomorrow is a burden.
I speak the words into the air,
no one answers, the sky
is a dull plate of silences.
Tomorrow is a heavy load.
My feet move sluggishly,
every sound muted to a drone.
It is hard to dream these days,
and oh, the tears, the tears.

This treachery of the blood
is a secret rushing through me;
and my face is a mask,
no one must read beyond
its inscrutable dumbness,
no one must know.
I cannot read the faces around me—
everyone seems filled with hope;
how ordinary life must be for them.
What secrets do they carry
in this city of dust, exhaust
and the clamor of engines?
There is no substance
in the things I dream of these days;
the news came like a stone falling
and I can’t find my way back to peace.
This is the antithesis of hope,
the calculus of sudden and terrible news. 

*****

For full poem visit: www.livehopelove.com, an exploration of HIV/AIDs in Jamaica through poetry, essays, photography, music and video.