Facing Forward, Pursuing Progress
We love violence
Romance of the gunslinger
Murderous outlaws
Violence glorified?
I’m seeking the path forward
Away from despair
A message from the bishop of my Synod in response to the recent horror in Las Vegas :
I found this a perfectly poetical statement, and a powerful part of his email introducing this letter.
We love violence
This spirit of compassion
Still calling to us
I am Caine
Acursed by God
And yet protected
Strangely blended
Mix of rage with
Hope. Enthusiasm
Tainted by jealousy
Perhaps in this, long
Life denied my
Brother, I may find
Redemption
They mesmerize us
Pictures of carnage, strife.
Cherry blossoms fall
Huddled upon the floor
Sobbing and bleeding,
Raging flesh’s brutality
Crushes another. Yet
That is not enough. No.
We demand to know
Why this overwhelming force
Was courted, sought. Insanity.
Compassion, perhaps,
Died. Revive it I shall.