There Was A Moment Poem by Laurence Overmire

In history
When the evil could have been
Stopped

A point when a positive
Choosing
Could have made
All
The difference

Sadly

No one saw it coming
Most were blithely unaware
The turning away of eyes and ears
Was so easy and so
Secure

'Don't bother me
Don't you see
I'm doing just fine
Please
Leave me alone'

Inch by inch
The shadow grew
And no one knew
What lurked behind
The curtain

Then suddenly
It was too late
The evil had taken
Hold

Now

There was no such thing as
Sanity
Madness reigned

Any reasonable way to
Extricate
The good from the
Wicked
Had long ago
Disappeared

And then came the
Destruction

The violence
The killing
The pain
The endless
Suffering

No one escaped
All were consumed
And only a nuclear
Blast
Of equally intensive
Insanity

Could finally end

What should have been
Stopped
In that first elusive moment
That slipped so gently

Away.

~ Laurence Overmire