Another Man Down

Another Man Down,
the T.V. announces another death,
because of race, religion, or color,
because of boundary, or beaten
by the police; should be
comforters, protectors, law enforcers.
who say they lie down their lives
for the good of us, but
act worse than the least of us.

God said, many nations will come
from Me, or
some such sentiment,
but we all know His intent.
It’s so easy to dehumanize somebody
by saying they are less than we.
How easy it is to believe
only we understand God,
as if anyone knows who and what God is!
His great, fathomless love
exists beyond our grasp!

Still, history’s list keeps growing,
real people are dying,
families are being destroyed,
whole parts of society
have no faith in a change,
so little hope, so much pain.
Another black man killed by cops,
another and another,
till we make a pontoon of corpses
that bridges us together,
and we say, “No more!”

The text of history repeats,
a beating of Jews
sipping coffee in a cafe in L.A.,
Yes, that was today!
The root of evil flows
through our very bones,
our cemeteries of who’ve hated,
and all must be reviled!
Oh God!  Why did you make this so?

I write this poem as if next week
there will be no more
unwelcome news.
My prayers tell me to hold onto
a tenuous, red thread of hope,
woven within a tattered tapestry
that is the life of us.

Oh God grant us a safe refuge!