Shock And Awe Poem by Adrianne Quinlan

Vague, ethereal presence,
Hiding gold at your feet.
I cringe each time I see you
Where your colors meet.

A sinister precedent
Gives its consent.

And armed with history,
Villains of today
Launder our terrain
With torrents of fiery rain.

How could this be so?
To believe the legend
Wickedness was washed out
Long ago.

But, no!
Having blood-bonds that tie,
The righteous banked along with the sly.

It must have been terribly warm
Within the confines of that vessel! -
Evil brews in heat.

Someone must have noticed that
A chicken or a pig was missing,
Or that food rations were
Inexplicably running low.

In the middle of the night,
A woman must have cried rape!
Her husband busy with a calving.

Not the righteous!
They couldn't do God's work
And toss the rogue
Into the raging sea.
The surname,
Allowed him to live on.

Madmen breathe easier knowing that
There is a precedent to make their case.
Maybe, all along,
It had been a matter of race.

The answer can be found in a rainbow.