I am only human

 I am only human, so yes, I will cry out in pain

when I am hurt or sad or so joyful about that

it touched me deep down to my soul, I weep

for others whom I cannot help like the many

homeless who are living on the streets just

trying to find some shelter out of the cold

even food and drink some have mental health

issues which more than likely will never find

a cure while others are addicts who will either

figure it all out and climb out while others like

some whom I know I am sad to say will not

and this evil disease will take another friend

or even someone in my family for sure while

others wander with nowhere to go, yet still they

are invisible to the world and even within themselves

because maybe a child has died causing a full

mental breakdown. I know it would happen to me

or maybe lost the only job they ever knew or

laid off still, just forgot who they were, a hero

once who came back from a useless war lost

somewhere inside of themselves fighting some

enemy who is not there whose dreams are so

horrific, most of you reading this would piss

your pants or wet the bed screaming for your

mommy afraid of the dark. I am flesh and blood

so when you hit me or call me names, I will

feel that pain both on the outside, where I

bruise and bleed and inside of me where

sometimes that feeling never heals, just

wondering what I did wrong and why you could

not just talk to me and try to get along. We

must stop being so frightened by that of which

we do not know as that of another man's

skin close your eyes. I could be black, white, red,

yellow and brown, yet when I bleed, it is red,

just as yours my friends while tears that fall are

the same tears that fall from you for the same

joy and pain and my heart, which I am as fragile

as a new flower blooming sometimes will break

the same as you and the rest of the world

needing a hand to hold to walk or bath the

older I get, no matter what I write or say we

are all the same, straight from our souls. That's

the way God made us except for the platypus

not sure what He was thinking, maybe a little

too much drinking from turning water into wine

hey you never know we were not there so

basically what I am trying to say is it really is

so much easier to love than to hate. Just think

about it. What a wonderful life this would be

if we all smiled more, shook each other's hand

help those who need helping forgive those that

need forgiving while we all leave the judging

of others to God, forget all that needs forgetting

leave the past behind us and start looking

forward to better days ahead.

Poet Richard M Knittle Jr.

A Poet's Journey