A Tear And A Prayer Poem by Bill Galvin

A tear and a prayer…
For the victims, for the families of misapplied gunfire,
Whether blue on black, or black on blue…
A crescendo of fear, anger, ignorance, and vengeance
Resonating on a sultry Dallas night.
Yes, black lives matter… so do white lives… red, brown, yellow…
Women's lives, men's, those of police, and homeless…
Students, and un-employed, executives, and truckers…
Residents of any city, any town, any desert, anywhere…
American, European, African, Middle-Eastern, Indian,
Asian, Australian, Inuit, Navajo, Penobscot…
Easterner, westerner, mainlander, islander, nomad…
Pilot, politician, mid-wife, mortician, nurse…
Poor, affluent, drug-addled, sober, healthy, un-well…
Landscaper, architect, cook, actress, union worker…
Hunters, vegans, pacifists, military, the proper, and the slobs…
Agnostics, Catholics, Buddhists, Hindi, Sunni, atheists…
Those are only a small representation of all humankind…

All lives matter.

Yes, there is evil in the world…
Evil that disguises itself in religious robes
And feels justified in bombing innocents
And luring impressionable young minds to sacrifice and murder.
Evil that disguises itself as judge and jury in a singular murderous act
From Brutus to Booth to Oswald to Ray to Sirhan to Manson to now,
And using this peaceful protest for the motives of the vengeful,
Intentionally undermining and confusing the message.

It disturbs all rational beings; it rightfully wrenches the heart,
But need not weaken the strength, the faith, the optimism,
And the resolve of true Goodness.

There are no easy answers.
It is the world we live in…
Tonight I offer a tear and a prayer… and hopefulness…
And gratitude for the well-being of my loved ones in Dallas,
Where I recently left… for, there are, really… think about it…
Far, far more Good People than bad in this world.

A tear and a prayer… for us all…
We all matter.

7-7-2016 (Little Rock, AR)