i sit far away from the world
but not far enough
so i also sit far away from the feeling of loss, of pain
until i can only choke up a fleeting sadness
to remember. to empathise

sometimes i imagine
you could raise a child in a place
where the sun never shines and the sky
is never blue
always covered in clouds.
and tell that child that the sun and blue skies do not exist

i look up at the silver grey colouring the sky today
and I don’t think to myself
“the sun is somewhere out there, shining” – no
instead i say to myself the silver-coloured sky today looks beautiful
only to remember what it is that makes the sky
blue or silver, and purple hues which seem to hold infinite beauty

so i sit far away from the world, from the pain
and i have to remember
the faces of those in pain
whose lives were cut short, some at my age
i remember others not remembered
because they did not live in the empire
They lived in the empire’s looting grounds
lands now desecrated
plagued by remnants of the empire’s evil
left in rot and decay

i remember someone once said
the chickens are coming home to roost
they have
and plucked the lives of some of my own
who have no home
who can have no home anywhere

they have
right here
and i was not even sitting far away
i didn’t even know.

so today
the fleeting sadness remains
moving slowly like the silver grey sky
i do not know towards what i only know to remember
the pain, the loss
and that even though i don’t think it
the dull sun
is somewhere out there