the response has to be
something to set the people free
it can’t be staring at the cage bars
it can’t be looking at the kill jars
and saying this is the response to beauty
we have a sacred duty
to stand there with our poet’s tongues
and to fill our lungs
with the same air they breathe
and instead of choosing to seethe
we must transform the ugly heart
by caressing it until it falls apart
unable to survive inside the flame
which is the elan vital not of blame
it is not easy to stand in the face of this
to let them know that every bullet will miss
the target it thinks it hits
and when the kingdom appears to be in bits
we must let them know that within a single heart
is the stuff of gods, waiting to become art
and that the material world is a weak tether
and in the spirit of creation we come together
as-salamu alaykum
shalom aleichem
pax vobiscum
live long and prosper
om shanti, shanti, shanti