Shall We Speak into the Night?

Shall we speak into the night
say all the things left unsaid,
shall we break the silence?
shall we speak the truth?
No, no, no.

We proclaim the power
of white Jesus who came to please us
and release us from our darkened skins
which Adam’s transgression had wrappéd us in

While another Herod ignites a militant display
of unmanned attack drones
sent out from the terrordome
to rocket little sister’s wedding party.

Why would we care?
She wasn’t one of us.

Lock up our enemies
until we can tame them,
reframe them upon their deaths
as impeachable saints
and heroes we can ignore;
rewrite their histories
till they’re one of us.

Blast the stars from that ordinary sky
lest Immanuel disrupt our plans
to sell a few more guns,
 and drop a few more bombs.

We can’t have a black man
teaching good (white) Americans
the meaning of civilization.
Tell us to turn the other cheek?
Beat our swords into plows?
Right…  Where’s the profit in that?

Meanwhile the words of the prophets
from long ages of the past

are sold at discount
in the bible bookstore.