GOD WILL UNDERSTAND

This piece was inspired by events in the Ivory Coast and other volatile parts of the world.

When we line them up in the town squares

Blindfolded, hands tied behind them, barefooted in the cold

Large crowds staring and cheering

As they bear witness to the powerful now fallen

When the volunteers take up their guns and aim

Wait for the command and proceed to fire

When the bullets hit them

When they scream in pain

The crowds yell loudly and applaud

When they go limp as their souls leave their bodies

As we disperse with the crowds headed towards our homes

We will not let our conscience worry us

God will understand

When their families weep and gnash their teeth

When their corpses are thrown to the dogs

Oh no, no state burial for you sir

When their possessions are repossessed 

Their mansions destroyed and turned into garbage dumps

When the soil of their farmlands are tilled with salt

Nothing will ever grow there again

When the cars they once rode so majestically in are crushed

Only good as scrap metal now

When their names are expunged from the history books

Branded a curse, never to be mentioned again

We will fear not

God will understand

For they sat back and gave orders while their henchmen went out

To steal, to kill, to destroy whole families

They sat back fattening on the spoils of their destruction

While their fellow citizens starved to death

While innocent young children were malnourished

Denied the basic necessities of life

Robbed of their innocence

While diseases robbed the citizenry of their lives

While their soldiers chopped off limbs and dismembered whole villages and towns

Short sleeve or long sleeve

Women raped, the land desecrated

They sat back smoking fat Cuban cigars

Surrounded by friends, family, loved ones

While on the streets havoc and terror ran free

Blood flowed freely in the drains

Scavengers fed on bodies lying lifeless on the streets

As a woman wailed, beating her breasts for her children

She could not be consoled

They are no more

So when justice eventually catches up to them

And they beg for mercy

Plead for foreign powers to intervene

When exile becomes enticing to them

And they suddenly realize the value of a human life

We will laugh as their pleas for forgiveness fall on deaf ears

And we will not fear for our souls

For when we meet the maker

God will understand