funerals are for coming together
and acknowledging a loss.
make sure you go. hug and cry.
something important has been taken from us
and it is worthwhile to see the corpse
to wash it
to dress it
until it kills all denial.
there is no back, only forward.
but all wounds must seal and scab to heal.
once the loss scars
we can pick up shovels
and hammers and go on the move.
Is evil something inevitable?
Something that must have its time,
like the darkness of the moon?
There will always be evil doers.
Power will always have its own gravity.
Some will always take lucre to tolerate horror.
The arc of the universe appears to bend
toward abundance. But that same can mask
totalizing power until it’s too late to overcome.
And yet, this has happened before.
And been defeated before.
Evil, like a candle in a jar, strangles itself.
We know we can do better.
We see others do better, as they see us
doing better.
And so
inevitably
we do
the work
the time
the struggle
the tears
the association
the building
necessary
to bend history
toward justice –
to give evil a smaller jar.
