SMART ENOUGH

Can they make a weapon smart enough
to hear
an anguished baby's lost and lonely cry
and veer
to splinter stone not now, not ever, fragile bone?

Are there men of terror smart enough
to leave
the mindless killing fields of hate
and grieve
the hapless, guiltless people dead and gone?

Can we train our agents smart enough
to learn
the rightful verities of fellow men
and spurn
the cold and callous calumnies of fools?

Can we make our warriors smart enough
to fight
against a blind unreasoning vengeance
and right
our wrongs without the carnage of the charnel house?

Are there men of religion smart enough
to teach
the living truth of peace and love
and reach
the least vestige of good in the vilest, blackest hearts?

And are our leaders smart enough
to heed
the long and aching need for gentle lives
and lead
us safely through the bitter dark to fulgent light?

And surely God is smart enough
to hear
our mounting urgent heartsick prayers
and steer
our floundering, foundering ship of hope to shore?

And poets must be smart enough
to care
enough to pen the machinations of the soul
but despair
that all too often readers heed the mob and shun the heart.

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Someone said, "smart weapons" ... Weapons? Smart? Oh please....!

Cover picture: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7911705@N07/2248686213/