Bonus: “Before”

before
before dawn breaks
before daybreak –
before getting wiped away –
Before I fall asleep each night I read
before I killed myself at the end
Before I learned to read and write
before I started school
before I wrote a poem
before Sunday’s resurrection.
before sunrise…
Before that smile. Our spirits span the miles
before the Chinese built the bridge –
before the final hour ...
before we get to Danville -
before, in 1862, in 1861? Who advised
before, we have to change the narrative

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