An Ordinary Man Poem by Steven B Taylor

Relationships


•This poem was generated by a long period of observing the types of people who create terrible acts, like the Timothy McVeighs and the Jeffrey Dahmers of the world but is not intended to be about any one person.
•The same types of actions as the Oklahoma City bombing have been committed by groups of people whose only purpose was to get their cause known to the world.
•It is a reflection of discussions about so-called criminal type personalities, and the underlying factors motivating people towards violence.
•It is only my reflections on one possible motivating factor.
•My experience teaching in the prison system exposed me to many men who had committed crimes, and to get to know them as something more than 'criminals.'
•It made me realize, that 'there, but for the grace of God, go I.'


An Ordinary Man

Opus 19

Within the secret whispers of the night,
The ordinary man aspires to glory.
Attempts to grasp the features of his fright,
And tell the world his story.

His masses make him fade into a blur.
His vagueness, by the numbers exacerbated.
Could he do something to create a stir,
To prove to all the world he was created?

Who knows what things in life were never offered,
That could have made him feel, he was respected?
What love, what truth, for him was often smothered,
Until, by all, he came to feel rejected?

The problem faced; that in this lonely state,
He is denied the chance for being known.
To which, he feels his only offered plate,
Is doing something, he alone can own.

His desire for identity, the force,
Which drives him to commit the awful act.
He kills without regard for source,
And makes the moves that he can not retract.

Once done, the nature of the man,
Can change with extraordinary pace.
He wishes he could make them understand.
'I only wanted you to see my face.'

It is within this singular human vanity,
We are exposed in all our inner bareness,
And recognize the nature of our humanity.
The yearning for our need; for awareness.

This need cannot begin to change his fate,
Nor excuse the callous deed committed.
For him the moment was too late,
That day, to self, his loneliness admitted.

At times of tragedy and suffering,
We often ask, 'Who was this charlatan? '
The answer, those who knew him have been offering;
No one special, just an ordinary man.

Steven B. Taylor
July 5,1997