Je Suis Charlie

There’s always something

The world isn’t always what it seems to be…

a happy place for hummingbirds and finches

who stop off at my bird feeder when they 

feel like taking a break from the rosemary

blooming all around my backyard… it’s not

safe all the time… only when Orange Cat

is sleeping on the other side of the house

and the rat snake is slithering after lizards

and the marauding hawks are away patrolling

the peaceful banks of our meandering river

When will we ever learn that the greatest danger

to human life festers and grows in the hearts

of monsters who wrap themselves in righteousness.

It’s scary enough to find traps that cripple and kill

in marketplaces where guns and poisons are sold,

but the ultimate insult to human dignity and freedom

waits hidden in scripture and books of discipline

of churches and mosques and synagogues

whispering explicit warning that a petty god is unhappy

with whatever it is the evil sycophant despises.