I WROTE THIS POEM IN THE WAKE OF THE BOSTON MARATHON MASSACRE AND KENYAN MASSACRE.
I have looked into the face of evil
The dismemberment of spectators at a joyous springtime run
Human beings jumping to their death from a burning inferno on a glorious fall day
Crowds blown up in busy markets in distant places
People dehumanized, poisoned, burnt to ashes
I have seen the face of evil.
What dark recesses of the mind harbor such visions of hell?
What blackness plots such mayhem?
What twisted thinking leads to such barbarism?
What deep seated hatred justifies such deeds?
Where does it come from?
Are we born to hate? No! Are we born to kill? No!
Are we born to destroy what others have built? No!
Is no price too high to achieve power over others?
Don’t these mothers love their children?
Or do they teach them self-immolation to kill others?
Do they worship death in the name of some elusive belief?
Is no price deemed too high?
We can ask again: where is God?
But God does not do this, men do.
God gave us free will. We can choose.
Why choose evil? Why choose destruction?
Why choose to inflict pain? Why choose hatred?
Why choose death?
Does anyone have a direct line to heaven?
Does anyone have a monopoly on Truth?
Are people just a means to an end?
Is nothing sacred, not even life itself?
Is power über alles – above all -- a worthy goal?
I have no answers, only questions.
The earth with its bounty is a gift.
Life in its many forms is a gift.
Beauty is a gift.
Peace we create
Love is ours to give.
We will not yield to Evil.
We choose life.
Beauty, love and freedom shall prevail if,
Like Winston Churchill in 1940,
We have the vision, the courage and the will to protect and defend them.