Post 16

TAKE BACK THE NIGHT
By
Suzanne E. Morse

(This poem is part of the Survivor Mural Project that will travel around the world. It is included in my Poetry Chapbook called “A Woman’s Journey From Darkness to Light.”)


Flickering light dances upon our faces.
Shadows conceal our wet tears.
Our candles burn steadily.
Hope peeks through the darkness.
Flowers – blood red, yellow, white – each a victim – fill a field.
Too numerous to count.
Words on signs tell the story of how violent and callous we are.
Faceless names etched onto golden plates disposed onto a wooden plaque.
The only reminder of the silent victims in the Night.
Who were these names that once breathed as I do?
What did they know? How did they live?
Roses embrace a glass vase. Another glimpse at the faceless names.
Purple balloons of hope drift slowly upward.
Will it matter that we “take back this night?”

I shiver in the gentle, warm air, soaking in the hideous numbers.
We chant. We march. We defy the night.
We utter the names of those we lost and lay the rose in its vase.
Noisy cars zoom past. Restaurants serve hot food on plates.
Lights gleam from distant buildings. The world evolves in its routine.
But we choose to seize this night -- to relive their Hell as if it were our own.
Then, it is done.
We release our balloons. The candlelight goes out.
We slip quietly back into the darkness.
Oh God, will it matter that we “take back this night?”