The By Stander Effect Poem by James McLain

When years seem like minutes and those same minutes seem like years
the world over time moves on I stand still
waiting and waiting
for that man with a gun overwhelmed by some one else.
Not having to be told.
My duty I did way back then in the hope that you would.

The attacks were brutally calculated,
calculated to late for fear there I froze.
The war where I died yet I go on to relive every day.
Alone in a crowd forced to guess.
Not one distinguished them self selves that night.
I wandered the streets
all alone long after the night no one came
because of that.