RAGING FULL
(on the tragedy of Beslan, North Ossetia)

the rage
huddled across the world
in the gym
far away
the cries
of Ossetian children
the keening
the guns
emptied of their charge

Why is that?
Who stole these childhood stars?

Twinkling in an extinguished sky
empty of purpose or reason why
belts and hoops of bombs
imprisoned those children's cries

I've had enough, have you?
What darkness forms this dark core
of human nature like never before
playing games of soldiers to settle scores
of power and corruption?

The whole world's prowess powerless to stop
innocent blood spilling as the carcass rots
under ideologies even childhood cannot stop
in a world that's starving and in pain.

Escape? Chances are you'll be gunned down
one side fires, the other returning rounds
The whole thing blows and peace can't be found
even deep beneath this murderous playground

Terror? I've never seen so much
Politicians and zealots mired in muck
do any of them actually give a fuck
they're so inured to helpless plight

Borders, freedom - do these two somehow attract?
Do fences, walls or armies act
to stop us from facing the simple fact
that this, is our children's world?

As these horrors call me to watch the screen
am I numbed or dumbed by what I've seen
is such an experience only a dream
I can wake and walk away from?

With friends living in such altered states
with a world despairing and full of hate
with these fanatics at every gate
who greet me with a gun

What value my thoughts that criticize
do market forces only work to cauterize
my opinion that guns must go?
They protect warlords, leaders and their states
drugs, prostitution and sanctioned rape

slaughtering our imagined leap of faith
for a future world at peace.

the rage
in the gym
far away
the cries
the keening
the guns

why is that?

4/9/04
m.d.