by Jan C. Snow
There are only two characters.
One has more than the other, therefore
one has less. One is taken from, one given to.
Each begrudges the other’s lot.
One strikes, the other retaliates.
Hard envy and hot anger well between them.
There may be a robbery, perhaps a killing,
no more or less brutal than any other,
although not necessarily a murder.
One is the victim, one the perpetrator.
Repeatedly, one flees, the other pursues.
Injury is strewn like grimy litter on a spring sidewalk.
What we cannot know is,
who holds the gun?
Jan C. Snow teaches and writes in Lakewood, one city west of Cleveland on Lake Erie.