Aftermath - Gail Onion

[Larry Robinson]

Aftermath

There is no after. 
It is not over now.
There is no over.   This is the eternal now
Like a tinnitus 
The insufferable buzzing sins in our souls.
Many shades of black lurch
Where children laughed and played.
The pain speaks.
The grief may wake the deadened
Hearts out of their calcified xenophobia
Into a reasonable doubt
But we doubt that.
Why do we hate?
Why do we kill what we do not understand?
Why we must say all together ! No! No! No!
Enough!   
In every language
Enough of this!
World of woe
Of not letting go
Of me against you.
The news blasting its deafening cacophony.
The hypocrite praying
With a hand gun clenched
Behind a sycophantic back.
Quiet please so we can hear
The holy silence of the gunned down
 In pools of sacrificial blood
Corpse strewn on grocery store aisles
Classroom floors 
Religious communities becoming
Death traps
Sitting ducks for cowardly hunters. 
We are failing each other and our world
Until we dread what is to be
Or not to be
Told to build more walls
Arm with more guns
Each in a separate prison a
Hardened fortress of stress
So we walk around
Guarded
Frightened and confused
A loaded gun
Aimed at the only enemy 
Left to hate
The enemy that is now
Ourselves.

	- Gail Onion