The Last Straw, Laid Quiet

It wasn’t the sirens

Nor smoke in the air

Not headlines like hailstones

That taught me to care

It came like a splinter

From words at the door

Your “sure,

That’s just normal”

I couldn’t ignore

That was the last straw

Laid quiet and small

Slipped in the crack of the everyday wall

I heard my own silence

It tasted like shame

So I’m learning to stand

And to call things by name

If this is the last straw

Then let it be seen

May it stitch up the tear where the hurt has been

The man on the corner

Had slept there for years

We stepped round his body

Like puddles of tears

Till your child asked the question

You dodged with a joke

And the truth in the shiver

Was louder than smoke

That was the last straw

Laid quiet and small

Slipped in the crack of the everyday wall

I heard my own silence

It tasted like shame

So I’m learning to stand

And to call things by name

If this is the last straw

Then let it be seen

May it stitch up the tear where the hurt has been

We’re late to the meeting

But the fire’s not out

There are hands still reaching

Through rubble and doubt

If all that I offer

Is one steady thread

May it tie up the living

Not tighten the dead (oh no)

This is the last straw

Laid quiet and small

Slipped in the crack of the everyday wall

Let mercy run riot through system and vein

Let justice walk gentle

Yet never again tame

If this is the last straw

Then let it be seen

May it open the wound to a wide

Healing green

If hearts can turn stubborn

They can turn back too

So I’ll carry my straw

Till it carries us through