By Mary L. Gardner
Central New York Branch

           

We went to war to find them.

The search was costly, an obsession

born of fear and stubborn certainty

robbed of wisdom.

 

Let us look again. It is not too late.

The clues are ubiquitous –

no gates or walls to scale,

no caves or tunnels or dark paths

to mystify, no foreign shores to seek.

 

Abuse of ourselves, each other, the planet

Arrogance       Nationalism    Racism

Ignorance        Illiteracy          Despair

Health care a talking point

Wealth disparity stretched to obscenity

Vast and profitable materiel of war

Divine guidance ignored, trivialized

 

Embedded caches, these,

scourge of any nation, breeding

killers anonymous until infamous,

weapons of mass destruction

closer and closer to home.

 

                        So are the ways of everyone who gains by

                         violence; it takes away the life of the possessors.

                                                                         Proverbs 1, 19