by LJ Frank
Tell her I am leaving now,
a cause long forgotten
slowly seeps back into my brain
as I step over a mangled, dead body
lying in the street
another on a mountain side
a human soul bleeds
another religious holiday arrives
woven in a tapestry
of stone, wire and bullets
and a child dies of hunger
a veteran of some past war kills himself,
soldiers, police and vigilantes
exit the cathedrals and temples of faith
attending to the corporate business at hand,
the politics of blood
shed
but in whose Name?
I contemplate the imprisoning walls
built on the borders of the mind
when I notice a journalist who shares a photograph
he took the day before
of folded hands no longer attached to the owner’s arms
lying in the gutter in prayer
forsaken by their God,
and a young boy cries, “it hurts”
but reason and love are in hiding
an illness in the human spirit prevails.
A rumbling echo is heard in a distant valley
I climb a rock-strewn slope
and look over my shoulder
pondering
who profits the most
as more weapons arrive
in a distant field
while deal makers make deals
the voices of war remain undiminished
and in the wilderness of hope
is an arid land
I must cross,
tell her I am leaving now.