A sound like singing

My jaw had been wired shut for so long. 

I had a dream where it was broken.

Shattered and reset

So the words could escape in a rushing breath

Open and flowing

Like singing

Now 

In the midst of this heavy-hanging sadness

It unhinges wide for mourning

I cannot shut out the sounds of 

My own grieving 

When I press my teeth together

So my children will not hear

The wail I hold back threatens to break all my bones

With shaking

Now 

As cruelty after cruelty is being revealed

It opens wide for rage

Shouting out loud 

To hold back the callousness
And injustice

As if I could create an army
With my words

To shield the vulnerable

To protect every single precious life.

What I wouldn’t give 

To go back to sleep

To crawl back inside that dream

To find the purpose in those shattered bits of bone
To weave this grief and this rage
Open and flowing

Into a sound like singing