Picture In My Mind

Picture In My Mind

Sweetly perfumed spring days
wrapped in sun shiny splendor.
smiles that squeeze eyeballs

until they twinkle.
Children half floating, tethered to balloons

Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Indigo, and Violet
highlighted by the clear Blue sky.
Bikini clad bodies

dotting the grassy green landscape.
Glistening, Crying out for
the attention of the Sun Gods.
Couples, young and old laughing infectiously;
sharing love flavored iced cream.
Random people bouncing as they stride
non-deliberately
as if they were going nowhere.
None of them together but all of them in unison
enjoying the miracle that is life.
If I were to return here

on any day, in any year
I would expect to see the same people
with the same care free expressions.
Sauntering; the disconnected from time, saunter.
Doing the same things they are doing today.
Or at least, that’s how I will picture it
in my mind.


Norman E.Harris, Jr.

Who Am I

Who Am I

I am every tear fallen
from every puffy eye
onto every proud cheek.
I am the salty reminder
of freshly witnessed injustice
to a fellow human being.

I am every drop of blood spilled
in fields, over pavement,
or on scuffed floor boards.
I am the deepest crimson flowing
from those with hope in their hearts
and with no means to defend
their God given rights.

I am the truth
of the human hearts yearning
I am every prayer in every bedroom
on every night they were uttered
from the most desperate of lips
in their most dark and fearful of moments.

I am the keep on keepin on
of the soul
when the mind and body say sit.
I am every sip of pride
swallowed; bitter, oblong, and jagged
so that their family
may survive another day.

I am the battered mind
and the weary spirit of struggle
I am every ache, pain,
abrasion, contusion, and scar
endured
in the name of freedom, equality, and justice.

Who am I?

I am the strength of faith.



Norman E.Harris, Jr.