Shock And Awe, Pt 2 Poem by Gabrielle Ciarann Roniyah Baer

A sentinel?
In the middle of a burb outside Seattle?
In a police department in the middle of a burb outside Seattle?
How can that be?
How can that happen?
How does he manage life
with senses wide open,
in the midst of all this modern chaos?

A detective?
lost in a rainforest for how long?
surviving without any aid outside his mind?
What kept him going?
What kept him sane there?
What heart deep strength kept him alive?
With an ancient gift he doesn't recognize,
What will he do here?

A partner?
He doesn't want a partner here,
He claims not to need one,
He's fine on his own, he says,
He always has been, he says, alone that is, .
And the signs are there, clear as daylight
at the edge of that forest,
Yet I don't agree.

A friend?
That's what I'd like to be,
That's what I'd choose to be,
That's what I think he needs,
more than a guide.
And that, like all the other answers
to the questions in our lives,
Remains to be seen.

(written in 2003)