Can We Not Love One Another? Poem by Mark Heathcote

Little brother, little sister
Protagonists of disaster
When our fists are raised in anger.

We're met by laughter and rancour
I ask now who is a winner
Who amongst us is the loser?

little sister, Little brother
Can we not love one another?
Let us open up a border?

Forget these machines of murder
Evened-out; numbers of slaughter
Scan the eyes of a cadaver.

Little brother, little sister
How will it ever be better?
If only we could all suture.

Suture the joint, and cure the fracture.
Lower our arms, feel the languor
For love longed for by our lover.

Little sister, Little brother
It's too much to ask, hereafter-
Shaking hands, we love each other.