Caedite eos. 

Let them die.
Wail.
Gnash your teeth.
Say your prayers.
Capture a headline if you can.

And wait.

In a few days they will be buried.
underground.
Conveniently out of sight.
Faces will fade
and merge one into the other
and fade some more.

We have it down pat.
How to do nothing.
Just let them die
and God will sort them out,

us as well.

About this poem

Pardon my rant. I am sick about all the shootings, all the killing. Physically sick. All the willingness to not change in the name of politics. It’s a complex thing, with so many facets, but we seem unwilling to do anything about any of them, unable to compromise, willing to let the death continue. Politics over people. Always.

The title comes from the latin phrase “Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius”(Kill them. For the Lord knows who are His.). This is the origin of the modern phrase, “Kill them all and let God sort them out.”

The image is a map from VOX magazine of all the mass killings since Sandy Hook. That was just three years ago in 2016.

Tom