The Plight of Serbia's Orphans - TIME

What have you done to the small, the weak,
what have you done to the world, to hearts
already broken in half at atrocities?

Put down your insecurities. The child could be yours,
next, when some just cause finds its place to be.
The woman could be your sister, soon to be born.
What will you do then with your fears
that strike out to eradicate what you think is 'normal'?

Forget the elegant speeches and put your mouth
to the lips that have forgotten to breathe,
put your hand out to the plea that wears itself out
on the heat of your hate.

You are imprisoned by these; they are not caged by you
who wish to pretend are not the most loving
you may ever receive.

Rome lost its command, as all empires do, that thought
they knew better than a Creator who thought us up
in the first place.

And when you fall, for surely evil does, will you try
to clamor onto the floating beds of those you emptied?
Will you be naked and near-death before you realize
your only hope was in tending to those more desperate than your damned deeds?

Earth is heating up in her frustration and horror
of your spongy yearnings to be king of the mountain
who stands at the top of a nation who has disappeared below you.

The world will not have your social structures
that are cracked from bullets that ricochet
off darkness that will be, absolutely, evident by morning.

We do not need another you, we need more of them,
that love because they forget and forgive so easily.
Can the same be said of you, when on earth's deathbed
when you feel nothing but transmuted loss?

Look in the eyes of the children and see God forgive you
since they were not spiritually disabled at all.

©Carol Desjarlais