“Illegals”, By Brian37 (AKA Brian James Rational Poet on FB/META and @Brianrrs37 on Twitter/X)

The brutal unforgiving burden of death
Is that the observers of humanity’s horrors
Cannot convey their stories in person infinitely

It is a baton, that must be passed down posthumously
Kept warm in the mind with the notes of empathy
That the seeds of compassion don’t get forgotten

The scoundrel of time makes us fading sepia photos
Susceptible to our barbaric tribal base instincts
The fuel of fear, the politics of otherism, the schism

Cased by the caretakers of the baton, losing grip
Of the sight that we are not immune to transgression
We can cause the aggression, and words are the weapon

When the bully is able to muddy the waters
When they are able to punch with impunity
When they are able to to wrap their insanity

In the guise of patriotism, of to which it never was
When the bully can paint themselves the victim
When the bully can can convince enough others

To do his bidding, when he achieves blind obedience
To which in the eyes of his minions, no wrong can be done
The severed head of reason, the disemboweled democracy

Will lie in ruins, and at that point, those who helped
Murder the baton, will have the same refuge as those
They stole it from, and that would be none