Let us not sleep.
Justice comes, not by hoping for it,
not by peaking periodically
from the cynicism we retreated to
last time our hopes were dashed

Justice doesn’t come by waiting for it,
for some last straw to topple
the systems that have ruled us for so long

In this moment, I claim my power.
My heart is humble in this, but still insistent.
It knows that every heart
has always yearned the same,
it knows that yearning leads to fulfillment.

This is the rule of hearts,
and when everything else is silent,
they will be known to be
the only ones that ever sing,
and justice is their harmonizing —
when they join together,
we will win.

©Wendy Mulhern
June 17, 2016