Road Kill Poem by Ray Lucero

Caught in the glare of bright headlights,
a raccoon is struck and killed. For good
measure other cars come along and run
over the carcass, ‘til it’s wickedly flung to
the road shoulder.

Did the driver of the speeding car stop to
say a prayer for the dead creature?
Or did he just keep driving, not giving
the incident a second thought?

Come morning a crow visits the oozing carcass.
She plucks out an eye and swallows it whole,
There’s no empathy or remorse for this grisly act.
Nothing more than a crow’s full stomach that
guarantees more full stomachs back at her nest.

Somewhere in the Middle East…

A young soldier presses a red button that launches
a deadly missile toward a distant target. Like the crow,
do you think he feels empathy or remorse for his road kill?
Is this act of violence nothing more than a human animal,
trained to obey and kill?

Which of these acts of violence is the greater sin?

ROTMS