Hate Poem by Patrick Fealy

There aught to be a law you know
Where empty hearted people show
while hate for them is worse than sin
cold love does more to evil win
Christ Himself would spit them out
not hot nor cold then He would shout
for them to give their gold away
before their empty hearts might stray
and wander there upon the earth
to echo Cane’s most wanton verse
I’m not my brother’s keeper here
while all about the frail do fear
a kingdom for your smile there
would stem the tide of my despair
It drives some men to drink you know
and some to hateful overflow
so if they make a law it seems
it should vouchsafe the old man’s dreams
and visions of the children where
cold love’s a crime but to forswear
condemned by love’s long arm in law
not hot nor cold man’s cruelest flaw