for (the comfortable)

 

forgive them my countrymen

they know not what they do

they hold their heavy tongues

they bind their brothers up

 

forgive them my countrywomen

they know not what they are

they hold their breath within them

and so become their scars

 

forsake the politician

he breaks the devil’s bread

lays waste to the god within us

takes shape in graves our beds

 

unmake them the eye-cast cowards

in shadows who took no sides

re-cast their spines in metal

and so let burnished rise

 

wake now you latent angels

take place at swelling front

no time for fear of retribution

knee deep in our brothers’ blood

knee deep in our sisters’ blood

knee deep in our children’s blood