Demand the Sun

Lare Bear No. 1 | Lawrence Strothers | Painting

Demand the Sun by Kira McClure

Sunken bellies populated the land,

Searching for buried sustenance.

But all that lied below their feet

Was rotten and spoiled crops.

Yet they ate it. They poured the rot

Down their throats and into their starved bellies.

And then outbroke the injuries:

The broken hearts, heavy souls, and endless tears.

But to the field they returned with fear in their hearts

And in their hands which shakingly lifted another crop-

And ate. The spoiled warmth settled in their bellies.

And the assaults and insults settled beneath their skin.

So there they lied battered and beaten,

Yet somehow moon-eyed for the embrace

Of their rotten sustenance. They couldn’t

Imagine the peace of true nourishment.

It was only when the blows to their weak

Bodies broke the last of their bones

When their dreams of something better

Obscured the bleak reality.

So they lifted to their feet,

Raised their arms to the sky

And demanded the Sun.