My Tender Compassion
By James Dye


Get rid of foreign people,
purify yourself with new clothes,
turn your mind a few turns
to change your heart's station.

I'm perplexed but I will go,
whether confined or set free,
to a new situation.

I'm not sure what way
or what happened
to destroy this world.

The light was near my face
of darkness. Who changed days
into nights of not what I desire?

I feel remorse...
nearly destroyed,
but I'm not hardheaded
as a rock.

I'll do what is right.
I'll continue to live
A life barely fair.

Though I want a new name,
to change the color of my skin,
maybe add a few spots,
and stand like straw
in the wind.

But I won't
be blown away.
I'll never change.


- - -
James Dye is a college student working on his English major. He's appeared in a number of journals and anthologies since he started publishing in 2009. When he's not writing, he spends his free time catching meteorites and wooing his girlfriend Alicia.