The truth is they won’t accept you
Because you won’t accept that you’re accepted
You remind them of the lies they told
Because you reflect what they projected
The denial of your existence
Protects identities that don’t exist
And now you want to be like them
What part of the message did you miss?
Who you are before you’re born
Is more true than you can know
When you let someone tell you who you are
Who has no power to make it so
That’s why I live and keep on living
Without the dream of keeping score
Knowing absence from the body
Is Presence with the Lord
And by “Presence with the Lord”,
I mean I Am Presence too
Because the One You Are when You’re with God
Can never be taken away from You
Category: Awareness
Seeing Angels
I think I always believed in Angels
But the ones I saw just don’t have wings
They showed up as I needed them to
While the world was busy with other things
They entered my dimension
Through vehicles such as art
Creating treasures out of trash
And healing through broken hearts
Picking up my pieces
And turning them into Peace
Hiding behind the eyes of those
Our systems call the least
Penetrating so called power
To reveal what they want us to disguise
We are all angels from time to time
When Truth is lifted above lies
© Copyright 2023 Pedro S. Silva II
Cover photo by Luke Stackpoole on Unsplash
To Be and To Become
Looking through the window
I see what is the soul
The Witness of all I witness
The fulfillment of my goal
The genesis of my being
And my exodus return
The destination I never left
Through living I have learned
An eternal invitation
To be and to become
An only among the Many
Realized when I am One.
© Copyright 2023 Pedro S. Silva II
Lies Hurt
Do we say, “the Truth hurts”,
Because we’re all a bunch of liars?
100 percent smoke
Zero percent fire
Addicted to desire
And other folks approval
Saying what they want
Is business as usual.
Programmed by patterns
Like an algorithm
Access to knowledge
But we’re lacking wisdom
Can’t make decisions
Because we’re scared to see clearly
That what we want to be real
Is actually nowhere nearly
We’re scared out of our wits
Because we know we’re dying
So we pay for distractions
Even if we know they’re lying
And there’s no denying
But it’s all we do
Because we’re afraid to be hurt
By the One and only thing that’s true.
© Copyright 2022 Pedro S. Silva II
Indescribable Impetus
You will ask me how I got here
In reality, I do not know
I surrendered to my brokenness
What you see now is emergent flow
It is not a part of Creation
Since it was before things are
The zero point of beingness
Collapsing distance from what seemed far
Be still and then you’ll know
Has nothing to do with stopping
Just as rising from the fall
Is not a consequence dropping
It is more like finally arriving
To the place I never left
By getting to the “other side”
Through borrowing another’s death
Now coming back to life
I choose to live like I’m twice born
Reinhabiting an incarnation
Through the veil that has been torn
Now when looking through the windows
I see what cannot be described
To those who breathe like they are living
But have yet to come alive
This is now the indescribable impetus
For everything that’s coming through
My actions coming from inaction
A human being before I do.
© Copyright 2022 Pedro S. Silva II
You can listen to this poem on Pedro’s Poetry Podcast.
Apology to The Mother
I used to come out here and listen to your wisdom.
The incarnation of flow
You reminded me that I am not my own Source
All that passes through our bodies derives from something Greater than ourselves
You weren’t just the singer
You were sung
And when I listened to you and your Way,
I wanted to be sung as well
Stillness in Motion
Your moves were not your own
Moved by the Unmoved Mover
You carried those who rested upon you with borrowed Strength
And this is how we thank you
You chose us because you knew the joy of being chosen
But, we didn’t choose you back because we thought we were entitled
And now, like the One who learned from your mistakes,
You’ve been poured out for us
So now when I look at you, I know what it looks like to be cutoff from the Source.
Reckless realities collide
Who will mourn for you if you die
When we realize that it’s all of our funerals too?
I know thoughts and prayers are pointless
But I do it anyway
Because sometimes lying to ourselves is all some of us have left
But, what I’m really trying to say is that I’m sorry for my part in all of this
And if there’s a chance that my tears will bring you back to life,
I’m prepared to cry rivers
Perhaps that’s why I’ve held back this long.
And find it on your favorite platform here.
© Copyright 2022 Pedro S. Silva II

The Burden
“How on earth are you hoping right now?”
I really want to quit.
No more coping right now?
My demons got demons.
No more glowing light now.
I have become my own shadow.
Whys consuming my how.
We’ve all heard the stories
Of who we’re supposed to be
But I wrote my own story
When yours was opposed to me
Became a default leader
They’re drawing close to me
Now my failures are their failures
Supposedly.
When I’m not “myself”,
No one knows it me.
Hiding in plain sight
Until you let go of me.
This is the burden
That none of us has asked for
But if one falls from grace
We’re all put on blast for
They say we credit our race
Or we bring them down
Then when “I’m” not there
I am finally found
©️ Copyright 2021 Pedro S. Silva II
Almost every Black person I know who has grown up in America knows what it’s like to feel the existential burden placed upon us that says, “You represent your entire race.” I remember getting in a conversation with a military buddy who happens to be White about this a couple of decades ago. He was honest enough to admit that he had observed this too. And being a straight forward man and not very politically correct, he indignantly said, “Dang man that’s messed up. It’s not like I have to think about how every serial killer makes me look. And you know most of the serial killers are some crazy White guy.”
Because we are good friends, we could have an irreverent laugh about the absurdity of it all. And in the context of our friendship, he and I have dismantled most of that systemic garbage so that it isn’t between us. But, at the same time, things like what went down between Will Smith and Chris Rock shows that the larger culture is still entangled in this tendency to place the burden of all of us on everyone of us. Even many of us Black folks are wrestling with this, calling the incident “Black on Black” crime, because we have been enculturated into this mindset and don’t think of questioning the culture that create such misnomers and agreeing that what happened puts Black people back instead of just the person who made the decision.
As someone who has wrestled with this burden most of my own life, while always questioning its validity ever since a teacher told me I was a “credit to my race”, I can say this is unfair and needs to be deconstructed. When my teacher said it to me, I let him know that I didn’t take it as a compliment even though I knew that was how he meant it. It hurt his feelings. But not as much as him essentially saying to me, “Your race is so messed up, they are lucky to have you.”
If you are someone who doesn’t have the social obligation to represent your entire community to the world, I invite you to meditate on that for a moment. What does it feel like to think that the next thing some one from your group does that is unwelcomed reflects on you directly? Imagine someone coming up to you at your job and asking you, why someone did something as if you all have some kind of group telepathy. That’s what a large segment of society is asking of us everyday. So, if you want to lighten that burden, don’t participate in this tendency. Be part of a better way. Get to know people as individuals. Listen to and share personal stories from folks who differ from you. And don’t rely on biases to determine your relational capacity.
You can also listen to this poem on Pedro’s Poetry Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.
If you’re looking for opportunities to relate beyond biases, check out events such as America Talks and the National Week of Conversation.
Thanks to @anas_alhajj_ for making the cover photo available freely on @unsplash
Desparation
If I had a dollar for every time we say,
“If I had a dollar”
I’d have enough
To never even bother
I’d buy a private island
In a land faraway
Take every single dollar
And give it all away
I’d be the poorest and the richest
And no one else would know
Buried my treasure in the sand
To see if it grows
Then in a state of desperation
For all that I have lost
I will hold myself for ransom
To see how much I cost
We weren’t born for this
But still we do it daily
We let the world we created
Drive us crazy
“I choose the lie over life
Believing it will save me”
Is the thought
Of the emotionally lazy
You’ve been lied to
How is it possible you can’t see this?
It wasn’t God
Who created us to be this
To the One we are Beloved
It’s our Name from the Beginning
It’s believing otherwise
That’s the Genesis of sinning
Desperation
How did we get this way?
It defeats the very purpose
Every time we try to pray
I can’t stand it
How many times can we be told?
You can’t serve two masters
And the worst of them is gold
©️ Copyright 2021 Pedro S. Silva II
The Call of the Coyotes
I hear your call on my morning walk
In my soul you sound like me
Expressing not entertaining
Giving voice to what makes you free
You are a child of Nature
Living here before we came
Domesticating wildness
While our own tongues we cannot tame
Whenever I hear you calling,
I wonder what you say
Is yelping in the darkness
The Way Coyotes pray?
Well if it is I’m part Coyote
I also call to the One Who Hears
I may not speak Coyote Language
But I’m blessed with Coyote ears.
©️ Copyright 2021 Pedro S. Silva II
More poetry at https://itsallinme.com/
Freestyle Vision Statement
It’s All too big
For us to be this small
We got to push out fear
So we can hear Love’s call
I will keep building bridges
To overcome your walls
Undivide your divisions
Till we’re all in All
I don’t care if you don’t like me
What you may think unsightly,
I can never let it fright me
It might be…
Let me make a new decision
Undo everything I’ve learned
With Mysterious’ precision
Lose my vision
Makes me the opposite of blind
Eternally forgiving
Means never running out of time
I shine…
When I come out of the dark
“It is finished.”
From the moment that you start.
©️ Copyright 2021 Pedro S. Silva II