Let’s Not

Let’s not.
Let’s not forget.
That’s what they want.
For us to forget.
It is what they count on.

But we can count too.
How many lives?
Take the time.
Count them.
Someone’s brother. Father. Sister.
How many?
Will they fill a house. Of course, and more.
A Block, Of course.
Keep counting.
A neighborhood?
A small town?
The lives add up.

It’s what they want.
For us to forget.
The pain to fade.
The outrage to fade.
It’s only one. THis one.
We will only treat the one.
Try the one.
Let the one go.
No one does the math.
No one remembers long.

Only, we do.
That life matters.
And that one.

What we forget is that is what grace is for.
That thing we learn in Sunday School.
Amazing grace.
That belief that it isn’t over until it’s over.
That lives are precious. Each and every one.
That color too.
And that there is always hope
that even the worst can become something new.
Amazing grace.
When we remember.

Let’s not forget.
Let’s remember.
The names.
The preciousness.
The outrage. and yes,
The grace.

About this poem

No the poem I expected to write after a good church service this morning, full of warmth and care.

I was perusing my pictures after church and came on this one, graffiti on a wall in Saint Louis. All the anger and outrage came back. I don’t like that feeling. I am a man of love and peace and grace. But when we forget the outrages, there is no change. They win. And new lives get added to the list, Again and again.

Rant over For now.

Tom