The Watchtower

I been standing on the watchtower, eyes wide, no sleep, seeing smoke in the valley while the whole town dreams. I called out lies, I called out war, I said that ain't love, that's control at the door. But they looked at me strange like I lost my mind, like the man with discernment was the one gone blind. I saw masks, I saw games, I saw knives in peace, I saw wolves wear wool while they smiled at sheep. Sixteen years with my hands on the wall, sounding every alarm but they ignored every call. "Be patient, be gentle, just carry the pain," while deception kept dancing in a holy name. I saw the storm before it came. I felt the fire before the flame. I carried warnings no one heard. I carried truth without a word. From the watchtower, I saw it all. The lies in the dark and the cracks in the wall. I cried out fire, I cried out war, but they kept on sleeping like they'd heard it before. From the watchtower, alone in the night, holding the truth while they questioned my sight. I saw through the smoke, I saw through the disguise, but nobody hears what the discerner cries. I saw deceit with a victim face, saw selfishness dressed up as saving grace. Saw silence sold like it meant peace, saw my wounds get weighed while hers got released. I brought proof, I brought pain, I brought blood from the floor, they said lower your voice, don't speak anymore. I said this is abuse, this is tearing my soul, they said maybe God is using it to make me whole. God doesn't bless chains and call that love, God doesn't hide truth just to keep things hushed. God doesn't ask sheep to stay with the wolf, then shame the blood when the sheep tells the truth. But the tower didn't break me, it taught me to see. The silence didn't kill me, it drove me to my knees. And the God who heard Abel still hears blood from the ground. When the room calls you crazy, He still knows the sound. So I'm stepping down slowly, not because I was wrong, but the war I kept naming was killing me too long. From the watchtower, I saw it all. The lies in the dark and the cracks in the wall. I cried out fire, I cried out war, but they kept on sleeping like they'd heard it before. From the watchtower, I stood alone, holding the truth when nobody would know. I saw through the smoke, I saw through the disguise, but the God who sees all heard my cries. The watchman knows the burden of standing alone, but the Shepherd was with me when nobody came home. The tower was never my identity, the truth was never mine to own, I was only watching from the wall until the Shepherd called me home.