Epitaph for David
[by Dr.Who3]
When he had been on this Earth
for all of five years he was already
sick and twisted with the
dysfunctional brain cells which seemed
to set his mind on fire at times.
Those whose job it was to raise him
tried to be stern and punish him,
finally giving way to frustration and anger,
screaming at him for being such a bad little boy.
He didn't know why he did the things he did
but WE knew, as we watched, that he was evil,
a throw away child - one who could not be helped
by our medicines or jails today.
He hurt people.
He scared people.
And so, had he lived, we would have shot
or injected or electrocuted him to his final reward,
because he was not safe to allow
to walk the streets for long,
a throw away child.
Except we knew, when he made a half hearted
and wistful attempt to do some schoolwork
and covered it up by his tough attitude,
that no child is really trash.
When he reached out to some of the other
children in a rare moment
then the knife of conscience in our guts twisted,
reminding us that no child is truly worthless.
Still, we were hurt and scared when we saw him
because of the things he did and the way he acted
but also because he reminded us that we can't
always fix everything, that we too are mortal,
having an end.
He scared us, and sometimes he scared himself -
and we knew that, had he lived,
we would have killed him,
if someone had not laughed
as they sold him the drug
that would make his heart race
and then sleep forever.
Some of us who read it in the paper
thought that was a sort of poetic justice,
one evil punk saving the state the expense
of doing the deed to another.
"Just let evil destroy evil", we thought,
"Just another throw away child".
Greater Dreams
[by Dr.Who3]
I woke up this morning,
looked out at the dawn
wondered where
all those greater dreams had gone.
The government subsidized the peace
Now defense is sold for rent or lease.
Love is free unless two become one
and go to get their taxes done.
People power won the fight,
don't ask - don't tell
is now our guiding light.
Is that the cost to get through our night
and to ring the Liberty bell?
We stopped nuclear fission;
it seems like such a wise decision
as they bury the waste in our back yard.
Will we survive DNA revision?
Will clones replace the prison guard?
We used to have such flower power
as we held high our demonstration signs.
Now they are painted on our coffee cup
as with blood shot eyes we drink it up
and look out through the blinds.
This old world keeps spinning 'round.
We had our say and held our ground.
We made our way and made our bed.
Will tomorrow's children make a sound
or will we keep them fed?
Did we really do so bad?
We didn't even nuke the world
and freedom's flag is still unfurl'd
and love can still be had.
I woke up this morning,
looked out at the dawn
wondered where
all those greater dreams had gone.
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