We Will Never Know
Gods or Monsters ~ Philip Brent Harris
~~~~~ Peace is Purpose, Nonviolence is Strength, Diversity is Unity, Empathy is Empowerment
~~~~~
While I am well aware
that what other people like
may, in no way, appeal to me
and the corollary, that
what I find wonderful,
they may see as dreck.
This should not matter
in the scope of
modern life, full
with sound and fury,
traffic-jam congestion.
Even chosen, pleasant
moments leave us hungry
for peace and plenty.
Still, I often wonder
how we might ever
solve all the terrible
conundrums, mazes
we have constructed
around our minds and bodies.
We pretend they are walls
which provide us
some protection from
all the outsiders, who
would probably be
friends as well as neighbors.
If we would stop
shouting insults,
shooting bullets, as
we drop our portcullis
raise our drawbridge
in way of welcome.
Those who may live closer,
with whom we may share
relations and common ground.
They might be related
to those further from us
who, for us are the other
and we paint them strange,
the stranger, not
like us in any way,
though they are.
Still, they do not
look like us, think
like us and, if
they might, we do not
intend to find out
or, to allow them space.
So, man the barricades
for it is men, mostly
be sure you are locked
and loaded, provisions
are stacked deep
enough to outlast
the half-life of
Americium and that
you will have
enough ammunition
to kill most anything
that walks by.
Oh, wait,
you are in a shelter,
waiting for some sign,
and nothing walks by.
Those strangers
you hated without knowing
could not help you,
even if they would.
~~~~~
Peace is Purpose, Nonviolence is Strength, Diversity is Unity, Empathy is Empowerment
~~~~~
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