The Code...... Poem by RIC BASTASA

we know all about it
because we lived it,
we were there, we touched,
we knew every nook of the place
every thread, every hole,
we felt the warmth of burnt wood,
we almost suffocated with the smoke,
we heard each scream, felt envy
for the groans before that,
we knew the hardness of the metal,
the loudness of the bullet,
we knew the lengths of silence,
the right time to go,
the exact time to slip away,
everything must be understood by heart,
no word must be wasted,
you do not have to hear the clicking of the
clock,
mud on the wrist, rain on our heads,
the creaking of bones,
short sighted love, suppressed desires,
unexplained departures,
uncertain hellos,
the life of a vagabond, the lawless mind,
the rebel in all of us,

all the mountains, and the plains
even the rivers, have kept their mouths shut.