An Article in The Baltimore Sun

An Article in The Baltimore Sun

The Christmas beat and bingo,

An electrical blackout in Baltimore!

Giddily…act professional now…

All sides of the story, hear…

Remember the homeless make people uncomfortable,

And this is Christmas…

So be even-handed,

Show no priorities of morals…

That doesn’t sell papers.

ã28 December 1996, Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw.

This Patriarchal Scheme

This Patriarchal Scheme

If one person’s rights are threatened,

Then no one’s rights are safe.

The weaker ones are the first to go—

The poor, the despised, the waif…

The few will rule the many

When the Masculine rules supreme,

It is our good earth’s trauma—

This patriarchal scheme.

The spoil and ruin of treasures,

Both human and of earth,

As the unbridled, unbalanced greed and lust

Desecrate real things of worth.

ã3 December 1993, Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw.

Harsh Forgivings

Harsh Forgivings

Life is like the ocean…

Its vastness is fluidly changing

Second to second

Even when calm;

The harshness affords little mercy,

But the depths hide many sins.

ã14 April 1998, Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw.

Hard Facts Harder Faced

Hard Facts Harder Faced

Who said our soldiers could not be psychos?

Who said we always are saints?

Where is it written we do the right thing

And never show evil or taint?

War is hell, lest we forget it,

And crimes of war even much more…

Can we train a human to kill, not to feel,

Without evil allowed in that door?

Rape is a tool and an agent of war.

So is massacre, torture, mayhem.

Even a good man can snap to a monster

And live only to slay ‘em.

None of us are guiltless, much to our pain,

But we are trapped in this way,

If ever we forget the humanity of victims

From Coshocton to Mai Lai.

© Copyright, Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw, 2000.

All rights reserved.

Hard Facts Harder Faced

Hard Facts Harder Faced

Who said our soldiers could not be psychos?
Who said we always are saints?
Where is it written we do the right thing
And never show evil or taint?

War is hell, lest we forget it,
And crimes of war even much more…
Can we train a human to kill, not to feel,
Without evil allowed in that door?

Rape is a tool and an agent of war.
So is massacre, torture, mayhem.
Even a good man can snap to a monster
And live only to slay ‘em.

None of us are guiltless, much to our pain,
But we are trapped in this way,
If ever we forget the humanity of victims
From Coshocton to Mai Lai.

© Copyright, Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw, 2000.
All rights reserved.

Who Determines Human?

Who Determines Human?

What makes difference too very different
To be considered human?
Does one particular type of person
Have only that special numen?

Does the phrase “not like us”
Have to equal “deserve to die?”
Can someone very different
Still basically be like you or I?

Many wars have been fought,
Many millions be killed,
These questions stay unanswered
And our hatreds remain unstilled.

© Copyright, Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw, 2000.
All rights reserved.