More Poetry from Pam Phillips . . .

AND WE GRIEVE

The names scroll ghostlike up the stadium wall
And we grieve
And some of us cry for lost love or lost innocence
Or lost illusions of safety.
And some lash out to reclaim what was never ours:
The absolute power over our fate,
Absolute knowledge of right and wrong,
With the certainty of those who have never
Asked too many questions
Or thought too deeply
Or known how much they don't know
And how much we can never know.

The real answers aren't easy enough,
Don't make us feel enough better than everyone else,
Don't win elections or legitimize phony ones.
Understanding is indecisive, compassion weak;
We shield ourselves with ignorance and call it morality.
Hold a hero's hand and rattle sabers;
Declare war on anyone who gets in the way
Of the swagger of the world's top dog,
Top gun, top preacher,
And be morally outraged at all
Who beg to disagree.