That priests can only use their ears is sad
because it can absolve the sin but not
the blood that spilled from innocence gone past
society’s sense of roughshod-riding right
A seventeen-year-old’s life was snuffed out
like most of killings nowadays perhaps
because the allegations point to drugs
despite the witnesses’ firm account
which goes against authorities who claim
he had a gun and fought it out his face
kissing the ground where unmoving he lay
because prevailed upon by bigger brawns
And did the other man of the cloth need
to enhance his power with a weapon
to zip up a 13-year-old in fear
like the broker must have instilled his own
Pity the parents whose crime is outrage
for the senselessnesses of the losses
even their time to grieve interrupted
by the media whose excesses triggered
the conferences and the photo-ops
faster than the wheels of justice grind, yes,
exceedingly slow, while the quota meets
the desire of those for whom the bang goes
A history of past mistakes does not
a criminal make; the present will judge
the freedom of the future if at all
hope does not fade from humanity’s fall.
Abraham de la Torre
