The Other Side

The Other Side

On the other side is love
For I have felt
The burn of indifference
Eyes that choose
To look away
Knowing full well
A change must come
Good must act
And instead
Cowardice
Or complacency
Doesn’t bother.

On the other side is joy
For I have felt
The ice cold misery
Frigid frozen affections
Gestures of
Kindness
Compassion and
Decency
Left on the doorstep
Absent and unconscious
A decision
Bereft of will
And inspiration.

On the other side of peace
War reveals to me
It’s ugly face
Conflict so old
Innocence is
Sacrificed for who’s right
Wounds so long ago
Never heal
Left to maggots
To settle the score
Weapons
And worst made plans
Destroy us
Without favor to none.

On the other side is life
For I have seen
Hell and death
Deception
Delusions
And darkness
Drive the bullet through
Into the heart
Of all our better angels
Killing children
For the love of guns
Psychotic politics
Making people irrelevant.

On the other side I know
Love is the answer
For only this
Can change our course
Remedy and cure
The pain we put on
Ourselves and each other
Love is the antidote
Joy is the goal
And peace the path
On which we must walk
No other state will do
Embrace love or lose.

Copyright © 2023 Charles Edward York
* No part of this poem may be used or reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any way or form or by any means electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise without the written permission of the author.*