Darkness and Light

Obsidian night
stretching into day
light drowned in tears.

Fleeting flashes
bright sparks of hatred
snuffing out souls.

Real people
not abstractions.
Speak their names.

Cynthia Hurd
54 years old.
Beloved librarian.

Innocents communing
in the bosom of “Mother Emanuel”
eagerly studying God’s word.

Susie Jackson
87 years old.
Church trustee and former choir member.

What kind of person sits
steeped in a nuclear winter
waiting to mow people down?

Ethel Lee Lance
70 years old.
Matriarch of her family.

What kind of society
raises its children to execrate
with such extreme exuberance?

Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor
49 years old.
An angelic voice and soul.

What makes a young man
so afraid
of people celebrating God?

The Honorable Rev. Clementa Pinckney
41 years old.
A beacon of hope and life.

What turns fear
into hate
into a shooting spree?

Tywanza Sanders
26 years old.
Took the bullet meant…