Anthems

Contributor: Richard Schnap

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There was the one about the boy who yearned for love
Who was given a number and told to wait in line

And the one about the girl addicted to the dark
When she could best pretend she was somebody else

And the one about the soldier in an invisible war
Whose enemies wore the same uniform as him

And the one about the blind man who could hear the sound
Of the world dancing on a razor’s edge

And the one about the mother calling for her child
Who only heard the cry of an extinct bird

And the one about the nation yearning to be free
Whose people only knew how to be slaves

And the one about the convict in the mirrored cell
Sentenced for life to be haunted by himself

And the one about the poet whose greatest work
Was a love letter scrawled in a forgotten language


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Richard Schnap is a poet, songwriter and collagist living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His poems have most recently appeared locally, nationally and overseas in a variety of print and online publications.