Fearing Tomorrow

I wrote this in honor of our new President. But this poem is more about change and how some people need time to adjust to it. Myself included.

Tomorrow is
just around the corner.  And for the first time in my life
I'm afraid of what's coming. I'm afraid so much
I'm afraid to go to sleep on election night for fear of
what I'd wake up to find the next morning.

I'm afraid
like the ordinary man in old Israel was afraid
when a young rabbi named Jesus came along and
tried to change things.  I'm afraid like the ordinary man
in old Russia. and another in old China were afraid
when their neighbors chose communism
to be their savior.  I'm afraid like the ordinary man
in South Carolina was afraid when it seceded
from the union and started the Civil War.  
I'm afraid like the ordinary man was afraid
forty years ago, when a black minister 
named Martin and a white yankee named Bobby
tried to knock down the walls between us
with a sledgehammer, preaching justice and equality
is for all.

I'm the next ordinary man who's afraid.

I'm afraid
of the hopes and dreams of so many
becoming a nightmare for us all.  I'm afraid of
my friends, my brothers and sisters
becoming my enemies for having a different point of view.
I'm afraid of the chang being force-fed
down my throat when I need time
to swallow it.

And most of all, I'm afraid
for the life of one man changing this country today,
inspiring people to come together
to tear down the ways of the old
and replace with the new,
knowing history's consequences for such a crime.

I don't think people are ready 
for tomorrow yet.  Least of all me.