O My Soul... Poem by Eric Cockrell

where have you gone,
o my soul...
where have you gone?

are you lost in the tears
of a thousand faces
blackened by hunger?
in the cries of the dying?
of the homeless?

in the defiant feet
of those standing in line?
the unemployment line?
the soup line?
the line just outside
the prison walls?

in the lover left desperate,
who takes his own life?
in the students beaten,
who stood up for freedom?
in the young man hated,
for the color of his skin?
in the young woman sold
on the lonesome street corner?

in the windowless offices
where lives and deaths are decided?
in the hole behind the gun,
eyes hard as steel?
in the bare apartment,
where the children are cold and hungry?
on the corner, 'neath the bridge,
in the back of the car?

where have you gone,
o my soul...
where have you gone?