Introduction

What difference does it make when you watch the news and cannot stop and mourn the ones lost before the last bit you stay put to watch after the long meaningless ads roll. You really need to know. It is essential before your emotions kick in to know who they kick in for. You wait to know who died, as if the death of a man, any man, anywhere is not enough.

Audio Podcast

A Man Just Died

Hold on,
There on the news
the other day was killed
a Jew—
a Christian cheered,
a Muslim rejoiced—
a sign from heaven
taken by each.

Hold on,
There on the news
the other day was killed
a Christian—
a Muslim exulted,
a Jew did not care;
for he never existed at all
or failed to see the one.
Hold on,
There on the news
the other day was killed
a Muslim—
a Christian thought one less to go,
a Jew sensed victory;
one less nobody, they thought
was out of the way.

Hold on,
a man just died;
no one cared—
a whole life intertwined with emotions,
all the love rippling around
all the good and all the bad,
all came to an end—
a perfect human just died
and no one cared;
a flesh and blood just died
turned to some political pawn—
and they thought one day
there would ever be
a checkmate.

Today you kiss the hand that killed,
blood will soon be on your hands, too—
weren’t you supposed to love them all?
wasn’t saving one soul like saving the world?
wasn’t killing one like killing them all?
I look at you and see myself—
when did you break the mirror
to have the heart to kill me?
a Muslim, a Christian, a Jew just died,
a man just died—
when I kissed the hand that killed,
in the mirror,
the dagger was in my heart—
My hand was too busy killing me
and I thought I was killing you.
We are left to cry for our own,
no one is left to cry for all.

<a href="https://englishpluspodcast.com/author/dannyballanowner/" target="_self">Danny Ballan</a>

Danny Ballan

Author

Danny is a podcaster, teacher, and writer. He worked in educational technology for over a decade. He creates daily podcasts, online courses, educational videos, educational games, and he also writes poetry, novels and music.

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