[based on "Done in our Name" by an unknown author]
I should have known
we'd killed him
Tuesday morning.
I woke up
strangely buoyant,
whisteling a song
As when I bent
over the dictionary's c's
boldface, at the corner,
there to catch
my eye,
were corpse candle, cauterize
and condemnation, cyanide
I should have known then
we'd killed him
should have
sensed the
huge organism's
sly joy, cat's paw
Batting at his eye, in
the chamber, out again
cranky machinery of
revenge
grinding to and fro
in the night
in our name.
One headline read "REPRIEVE"
and just a block away
another
edition shouted "EXECUTED."
It was done
in our name.
All our hands
on the wheel
that sealed him
in the tomb.
All
our ears
echoing with
it's metallic clang.
We all find ourselves
murderers now
participate in his death,
no - even
more than that
We take part in his crime.
Others are saddened,
diminished or angry.
But once it's done
the clock has
turned.
It doesn't matter
what we said.
A man, a boy, is dead.
It was done in the dark
Tuesday morning
in our
name and all our hands
