Still

The slaughter calls to our dignity


What has our society wrought

That man and woman and child are but targets

For the greater burden of legitimacy

The way we think and walk and talk

It destroys the ego as we shift our shapes

Into something dark and dirty with secrets

That not even our neighbors know

What vain shadow follows our unbelief

And scares the screams of utter woe

Because darkness causes fear to squeeze up

Out of the ground like so much tainted oil

We can’t know the horse-trading in back rooms

Our government deploys to keep a strict balance

We will never see the eroding of our money

Not the lives of our best and brightest youth

For the crowd’s blind understanding

For the pinnacle of the world’s power

For the choice of living versus dying

This is wealth and power and call it what you will

It’s still a crime.