people
burned alive
then
hung from trees
no compassionate
words heard
just
mumbled words
that’d learn yah
children
murdered on the street
by those
charged to protect
no
compassionate
words heard
just spiteful hisses
that’d
learn yah
children left
at the border
orphaned
by
procedures
dying of desperation
no compassionate words heard
just a lullaby dirge
that’d learn yah
that’d learn yah
oh but when
antivaxxers pleaded
for hospital beds
denying others
critical healthcare
we’re told
to show
moral compassion
a nation
practicing
selective compassion
perhaps we should say
that’d learn yah
as he lie dying the phone rang taking the call he found a distant family member on the line who asked how he was doing he said everything’s going as planned hung up and died with a broad smile on his face having left them disappointed about his successful plans
your condemnation of murdering civilians doesn’t quite make it since graves are already dug and souls are as cold as death you seem to believe words speak louder than actions so here’s the problem words ain’t no bullet proof vest just your moral placebo
words offered before burials or the hearts have stopped beating words on any other occasions might have raised the dead like the widow’s son at nain but these words with angelic tones are political sound bites that echo through polished marble hallways hallways that are the only grave markers and eulogies these homeless will ever have such concerned words just dry leaves crushed beneath the feet of inhumanity dust without life or life giving mere moments of fleeting guilt insincere regrets for inaction offered before the graves are dug or the bodies are even cold
a democracy fed a steady diet of misinformation soon becomes immune to the truth the guilty are found innocent the cruel are given the rule and the virus of fascism soon invades the entire body of the nation
just a small morsel left on life’s old dinner plate best to savor it oh you might turn up your nose claiming the good parts are gone but i’m licking the plate clean
life’s full of failures
with youth’s thin cloth worn by fools
faced with winter’s wind
while those who are old don cloaks
heavy with youth’s memories
pretending it keeps them warm
Read Between the Minds 