A war of attrition continues with death
a spy walking behind
a sense it follows a breath after the next
a shadow stretching back
to birth a battle cry,
today we win the war we lose tomorrow.
One can for a pocket full of policies
lose entire families — Hell is the inability to love.
We inch toward the edge endangered species
wanting more than we need
computers phones gold homes cars,
more animal than the beasts
the corporate czar global leaders
give a harvest of grief
the Killing Fields Rwanda Darfur
Bosnia East Timor, how many holocausts
before they cease — Hell is an absence of love
in people who bend to hate and greed.
Death, maker of creeds and men
withering away in the end
when hymns of eternal rest and peace
pour out into the air
like smoke over Syria
heaven scorned by hells we made on earth
