Getting Through the Day

How hard is it to get through your day without getting angry,
or swearing at the car in front of you for going a little slow?
Or hating someone you really just don’t understand?
How hard is it to get through your day
without pulling a knife or chambering a bullet?
How hard is it to not thrust that blade or pull that trigger?
And what does it mean for the rest of us
if the people you respect, look up to, idolize,
encourage you to do just that? To thrust, to squeeze, to kill.
Are we back to building backyard bomb shelters all over again?
I linger over the Cold War and laugh at the peace dividend.
I hear songs from the 60s and laugh some more.
Love thy brother? How can I love someone
who can’t get through the day without taking from another
that which is most precious?

Raud Kennedy

Archived 08/09/2011