How Americans Justify Political Violence Poem by James McLain

How Americans Justify Political Violence

In streets where shadows blend with night,
A spark ignites, fierce and bright.
Righteous fury, anger's balm,
Erupts in protest, far from calm.

With flags and chants, they make a stand,
Believing justice close at hand.
Yet fires burn, and windows break,
For liberty's enduring sake.

Voices clash in fervent roar,
Defenders of a sacred lore.
They shout of freedom, cry of pain,
In hopes their loss was not in vain.

In halls of power, whispers creep,
Of fears that sow discord so deep.
Both sides convinced their cause is true,
That violence is the chosen hue.

History books, with pages worn,
Show cycles of a land reborn.
From tea thrown in a harbor dark,
To civil rights' defiant spark.

Each act of force, a cry for change,
In justice's name, they rearrange.
Yet bloodshed stains the promised land,
Where dreams and nightmares go hand in hand.

How long can justice wear this guise,
Before the light in dark's demise?
The question lingers in the air,
As power shifts with fervent prayer.

And as the smoke begins to clear,
The echoes of the past draw near.
For in this land of brave and free,
Violence haunts our history.