I truly believe that "good people" fail to understand the power of their words. What starts out as mistrust and dislike in one conversation leads to fear and hate for another. And then we grieve where that path leads...again and again...and again.
Your Words…Our Grief
your rhetoric
of otherness
and separation
and exclusion
breeds a hate in the
hearts of your young men
who turn your words
into their mission to
eradicate our towns
of all that you say
your children should fear
and leads us to a grief
that no nation should know—
a river of tears that crosses borders
and runs through our blood-soaked
lands that bear the scars of your
thoughtless chatter…
but the children
of this nation will lead us
away from your bullying taunts
and lead us to love
and we will grieve
the lives lost
and come together
around words of hope
and songs of peace
and chants that unite us
and rap-filled music that drowns out your words
that paved the bloody paths that
brought us here
and love will lead us forth
and hope will carry us
and we will write the names of the fallen ones
in our hearts
and fill our history books with the
stories of those who
rebuild from our brokenness
and heal wounds
and help us come to the table
and break bread with those
others try to erase
--Chris Pepple ©2019
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