OF GODS AND MEN

You must delight in our tears,
and revel in the cries of our anguish
For the crackle of the whip - your whip on our bare back
gets heavier with our tears. Against the backdrop of our cries
is the clear sound of your unstifled laughter,
of your mirth in the face of our pain.

In your eyes, we are like gnats to be smashed against the wall.
to your ears, our pleas are irritating noises to be muffled, 
like crickets chirping on a still Savannah night

You revel in toying with souls, and breaking hearts;
Picking life - and extinguishing it, like a child blowing out
candles on a birthday cake.
But hearts are not machines that can be mended
with the welder's torch,
it's valves of flesh cannot be fixed with the plumber's tools
and life's spark cannot be restored by the casual flick
of a matchstick
Yet you persist in causing pain with a smile
Drawing tears with a word,
Singeing hearts with a look

In your world, there are gods and there are men
and the twain are as far removed
as the heavens are from the earth

Even God finds time to speak to his creation, humoring
the faithful now and again, with an answer here - a blessing there,
to keep strong their hope in a better day
but you - strutting like a newly deified being,
pretend to be deaf to our anguished cry,
and refuse to acknowledge our pain-worn hearts
Once faithful, we are now faithless
A word was all we sought, but silence was all we got

In your mind, we are fools to be ignored.
lesser beings who cannot comprehend,
the warped logic with which god-men operate!


© 2004 Malcolm Fabiyi

Malcolm Fabiyi is an Environmental Engineer resident in Chicago, USA.