Protest Later

242/365

Sirens and flashing lights
The loud voices go quiet
The riot dies down
They flash their guns
Badges ready to fire
We’re bystanders frozen in place
As the skin starts the race
Denying what’s right before our faces
“We’ll just protest later”
When it’s clear and we’re safer
Where voicing our thoughts won’t get us in trouble
Won’t involve us in the scuffle
Scared the ripple’ll triple, shots’ll fire
And someone’ll end up crippled
Rationalize it
Say “nothing’ll change” and “jumping in just means two die today”
It’s not even worth a try to save their life if “mine gets sacrificed”
“It was always gonna go this way”
Read the twisted story the next day
Scrolling through Facebook headlines
Scroll away
No involvement
Maybe if just one of the thirty bystanding
Watching this dirty cop made a stand
It wouldn’t have ended the way it did
But that’s the past
And we can’t go back
Next time, I promise I’ll act
Unless its weighed again
Get caught looping the damn thing
It’s a sign by then, “I’m not meant to jump in”