The Writing On The Wall Poem by Dee Daffodil

I drove 'round the bend
And there it was...
Staring me right smack in the face
And sending chills down my spine

The message...
Scrawled in paint sprayed block letters...

'PROTECT WHAT YOU LOVE'

My first thought was...
Yea right!
I tried to protect the trees
But the beggars cut 'em down anyway!
Beautiful old oak trees
Had once occupied the land
Just above the limestone wall
It had once been beautiful farmland
Until someone decided that townhomes...
Would be much more suitable!

Anyway...put the past behind me...
I can't protect those trees anymore...
Gone...all of them!

So now my mind starts wandering...

'PROTECT WHAT YOU LOVE'

Who wrote this cryptic message?
Who was the intended receiver of same?

It was one of those messages
That left the reader wondering...

It was one of those messages
That had the power in it's simplicity
To cause unease for all residents in our community

Was it intended for me?
Was it intended for my neighbor?
Was it intended for the community?
Was it intended for the politicians?
And...
More to the point...
What exactly WAS the intent of the message?
It struck me that these could have been...
The scribbled words of...
A teen with an over-active imagination...
The ravings of a lunatic...
Or...
The veiled threat of a terrorist...

'PROTECT WHAT YOU LOVE'

If it was meant to be a message to one and all...
What DO we love?
We love our FREEDOM...
We love our COUNTRY...
We love our FRIENDS and FAMILY...
We love our CHILDREN...

And so, as I answered the question
I had posed to myself...
With each answer...
The chill spread further...and further...
Throughout my body...

How can I possibly protect them all...
All the time? ? ! !

Dee Daffodil (HW) 15 December,2008