Skin In This Game

where is your skin in this game?
the lines of battle are drawn
archers, poised, bows taut
ready to pierce
will you bleed when they release
their fury?
or will every arrow
miss you?
miraculous!
as if their flinted vectors
had no mind to harm
you
in the first place

where is your skin in this game?
where are your scabs and bruises?
where are your teardrops in the dirt
from where they knocked you down?
where are your footsteps in that blood earth
proving to the whole world
that you got up again and
marched
on?

what do you stand to lose?
what have you brought into our temple
ready to lay at the altar
willing to see burnt?

if they threatened your home
                             your lover
                             your money
                             your babies
                             your intellect
                             your freedom
would you run?

are your hands chained to ours
when they throw us
into the cargo hold of oppression?
do you go with us to hell
when we are damned to meet
the blue-eyed devil?
when they force themselves upon us,
do you know how to stitch us up
with the same tenderness and rage
as if it were your own body
they tore open?
how real do you wanna get, friend?

I know what you believe
I know what you envision
I see you embrace it all in rebel's love

But tell me -- where's your skin in this game?