“A Better Response”

By Odd?Rod

I’m doing fine
is what we say but that is not the case at all
Our minds replay the better days before we got the call…
and paused and dropped and cried out tears of grief.
For someone that we knew and loved was now declared deceased.
Homicide arrest rates took a plunge in recent years.
Families left in mourning face the worst of all their fears.
To hear our loved ones have been taken by the hands of someone else.
They’re working on the case but It’s been hard without the help of the community with answers.
As the witnesses choose absence.
Missing puzzle pieces Hold the key to what has happened.
And it seems that things are lacking.
It’s been a year with nothing mentioned.
It’s hard to sleep at night because we know that someone did this.
And they aint been apprehended while detectives stop their visits.
They don’t have good descriptions and their leads have been dismissing so
The case is disappearing…
Like the teardrops on our sleeves
Mornings fill with mourning.
Say a prayer for those who leave.
Save a prayer for those who grieve because this pain is insurmountable.
When someone takes a life – and no one’s held accountable.
“We have, nothing good to go off of cause’ nothing’s been reported”
Detectives clutch their hats approaching broken hearts on porches.
Forcing families out with torches.
Those are mothers in the streets!
They’re acting like they’re officers returning to the scenes.
Fathers question witnesses while brothers comb for clues.
Sisters put up posts in hopes to garner up some views.
And doing fine…
is what we say but this is not the case at all.
For murder cases frozen freeze the families involved.
Pushing families to pause their lives so they can seek out justice.

We watch the process fade while being told that we should trust it.
Feeling broken and disgusted, helpless and ignored
Trying to find a way that we can somehow fill the void behind the murder of a loved one.
And the hopes to catch a break.
Faith is like a bird we hold and cherish that escapes.
And a day’s a day too late and it’s hard to carry on.
Speaking to a grave of someone that should not be gone.
That’s when we find our strength in numbers. Project: Cold Case fills the gaps.
They become a bridge that helps to bring our focus back.
So that we don’t forget our loved ones, but we do remember us.
Much more than a system set in place to keep in touch.
They’re a sound of hope in silence, a light in times of dark.
A real-life organization built on showing us their heart.
And that part, sometimes, is everything we need to float.
Someone who believes that we can win can give us hope.
And not only help us cope, but help us stand,
and raise our heads As a tribute to the fallen that we’ll live for them instead.
So that one day when we’re asked how we’ve been holding it together,
We will know we’re not alone and we’ll respond,
“We’re doing better!”