The Weights On Either Side

Before twenty five I have

Seen towers fall and dictators rise

As if history is a lever that seeks

equilibrium. I trust that the balance

It requires is on my side 

But even then I do not know which

Side is which, and when the 

Fulcrum on which we hinge

Will be knocked from under us

And reveal the weights on

Either side

Before twenty five I have 

Seen us reach into the smallest nature

Of what we are, rewrite genes 

and then fall victim to pandemics 

Spread by beasts the same size

As the words we now edit.

We tinker with our syntax and 

Squabble over lines while the 

Verses in which we dance are

Molded and distorted as we watch,

Helpless against these larger evils.

And before twenty five I have

Felt warm in the pauses between verses

When I remember to stop looking

Downward in pursuit of that tipping point

That I constantly feel is about to crumble,

When I can sit beside another human

Perhaps even a friend, and focus 

on my side of this lever. Look away from 

The larger villains and remember that 

though the fulcrum and the counterweight 

Have no plans to disappear, neither do I.