Gray's Note
I just thought I'd tell you
that I admire you.
And this isn't from whom you're thinking.
My name is Gray.
I saw you
I saw you stand up for us all
And I wished I had done something
But I'm scared
Too scared
To have gone up to Hopper and said, "He's right, you know."
Too scared
To see his foot come down on my head.
Too scared
to cry.
I'm just that way.
I think we all are.
Because I know.
I may be 14 but I saw the tired gaze in my father's eyes
When he came home from the harvest each night.
I saw my mother crying in her room
Never telling me why.
I knew what it must be
To be beholden to someone
For no reason at all.
To dread the flutter of each leaf
Bringing us closer to that time
When we must give it up.
To be enslaved mercilessly without a choice
I'd like to say that I'm proud of you.
You were the first to believe that there could be somehting better.
That we could be better than grain-pushing, hopeless particles
The ashes of so many summer afternoons under a magnifying glass
We could be better.
And you showed us
That there was a way.
That we could discover and dream
And create.
So I thank you.
Thank you for my future.
Flik's Note
I did expect that it was from someone else
And when I read this
I cried.
A prayer of thanks.
That what?
That there was someone who cared.
That I did have an admirer
A friend
And yes, I believe I saw you
There was one smile in the crowd that was genuine
One tear that cried for me
One voice that wasn't raised in cheers when I was presumably gone forever
I knew there had to be someone other than Dot
Who always made her admiration well known
And never hid in the shadow of popular opinion
Which is very hard to do.
And to tell you the truth,
I would probably have done the same as you
Had I seen myself doing what I did.
I would have stood back and held a secret hope
Behind my faithless heart.
And nobody would be the wiser.
I lived under the rule for years
And I grew tired of doing things the hard way
But I told them and they wouldn't listen
There must be a way
A better way
And I wanted to find it.
And I do.
We all do.
We all stood up and broke the chains together
We're not afraid anymore
Today's weirdo became tomorrow's visionary.
Thank you
For shining a beautiful light
I was not alone.