Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.
--Hosea 13:16
The strong always crush the weak and call upon
The court poets and priests to invent fairy tales that justify the carnage
And to hire some two-bit god with bad breath poor impulse control
And serious personality disorders to consecrate the slaughter
Once upon a time God chose us because we are the righteous ones
He tells us we can have whatever we want
Even if we have to take it from the Others because
The Others are wicked and deserve none of God’s treasures
The powerful blame their victims while claiming to be victims themselves
At night they grow transparent and cannot see themselves in mirrors
But they hear their own heavily armed shadows everywhere in the streets
Whispering secrets and sneaking up on them in the dark
The Others are not beloved of God and wish to annihilate us
To drive us into the sea to wipe us off the face of the earth
Merely because we protect ourselves against their irrational violence
For we are just and merciful and massacre only in self-defense
The imperious always steal from the downtrodden and explain
That they are simply claiming what is rightfully theirs
That only they are capable of using God’s gifts wisely
That only they know how to make the deserts bloom
In our sacred bargain with God we have promised to flatter only Him
And He has promised us that the land of the unbelievers is ours
And has instructed us to kick their asses to decapitate their children
To turn them to dust and live happily ever after
As the corpses pile up the people dance in the streets celebrating
A great victory praising their bleary-eyed accommodating god while he sits in a
Downtown gin joint with the court priests and poets tossing back shots
Trying to get drunk enough to keep the nightmares away
Buff Whitman-Bradley is a peace and social justice activist in Northern California. In addition to writing, he produces documentary videos and audios. With his wife Cynthia, he is co-producer/director of the award winning video Outside In, about people who visit prisoners on San Quentin's death row.
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