???? to life......

Another Bomb Blast

Another bomb, 30 killed,
100s injured, it happens almost every day,
scarcely makes the headlines,
so we shrug and say
“how terrible” and go our way.
But stop. Think. Imagine it,
for it is real —
flesh splattered on walls, guts spilling,
pavements slippery with gore,
stench of blood, still warm,
flowing red in gutters,
children, limbs torn, heads severed,
dead and dying everywhere,
screams and groans. That is the reality —
lives lost or wrecked,
loved ones gone, for ever and ever,
unending loss and pain
for those who mourn
sons, daughters, sisters,
husbands, brothers, wives — who cares?

Not those who carried out this sin
against humanity, this monstrous
obscene act, so far removed
from all that’s human,
warm and good,
from laughter, light and love;
they are not human so we cannot know
what’s in their minds —
it must be hate, for it is not love,
and hate it seems whose twisted skeins
are wrapped in strands of poisoned ideology
for men are most dangerous when
obsessed by ideas, simple
and extreme. Mix in religion, then
you’ll find they’ll kill, and all in the name of God.

Pete Crowther