Protect Me Until

Place your
hands over my eyes
until it stops;
until knives stop coming
with sharp points,
until bullets stop calling
for those not ready to answer,
until legs know only to walk
and not beat through
body bones, skulls,
until stones remain
on the ground, buried in
dust, not moving
like darts at people,
until home locks are
too unique in their make
to be popped open by
masked men, until
all things are inflammable,
no hands with a strength
uneven to the next person's,
not strong enough to make
decisions, decisions about
who goes when, at their touch;
too much
in a world not wicked
on its own, but by people
made powerful by
their merciless minds
and audacity.