3 Seeds

A descending exploration beyond the roots of hatred.

Young ones look up to us with learning eyes each day as they grow
Teach your children how to feel and everything that you know
About love and self-esteem and what you reap you sow
Parents who express no love raise their children down so low

Once planted in a heart, the seeds of hatred sprout then grow
Pride injects a high, like drugs, through veins where it can flow
To desire more, then crash from withdrawal addicts come to know
Three seeds of prejudice raise your spirit down so low

From the depths once descended exploring new levels to exceed
Is there nowhere inside their souls unconsumed by material need?
Hypocrites utter deception, telling half-truths designed to mislead
Said so many times even they believe in the lies that plant the seed

Corporate owners seem to have forgotten the slaves were freed
Robbing retirement funds to stuff their overwhelming greed
Keeping down the poor to maintain their status as the richest breed
Who refuse to admit the pecuniary progress they impede

Zealots point fingers and label "immoral", hearts that bleed
And proclaim God as a charter member of their creed
They hunger for power over fearful faithful they can lead
With a grip on their flock that strangles credence like a weed

Cowled cowards twisting scripture till they feel sanctified
Planting the tree grown for the cross, burned to become purified
But there's another fire eager to see how far down they can slide
Where the fallen one would rise to lead them to unholy deicide

Seduced by fear, bathed in greed and gorged the flesh with pride
Will they embrace all three until they've cast their souls aside?
Will God look back at the end of man and see the hate of genocide?
The first thing God did not create, the only thing that never died

The rainbow in their love filled lives kept them on the outside
Don't ask, don't tell the truth, there are rules to abide
Homophobia in fox holes is not morally justified
Love feels no conflicting virtues that ever could collide

Weak hearts are overcome when they feel a darkness drawing near
Listening to the movement beating war drums within each ear
Quiet those thoughts and open the mind to a silence all can hear
Look inside the heart for the courage to quell this secret fear

Eyes held closed to painful sights shed not a single tear
When they open up their eyes the truth becomes so clear
Mesmerized by powerphiles like headlights to a deer
In darkness till they will admit every human is their peer

Search within thick forests for three seeds that grew three shady trees
Knock on their wood to hear three names carried on the breeze
Listen for the quiver of terror, glory and desire shaking greener leaves
See spring saplings and perceive the grand design that hatred weaves

Time marches ever onward forming new circles in the wood
Branching out lines surrounding rings where only one once stood
Lines drawn in circles that separate where colors never could
While one more family tree draws cryptic bloodlines in the hood

The high and mighty tree grows taller with each passing year
The weight of its own branches make it hard to persevere
Until its hollow trunk caves in making way for freedoms true frontier
The first steps toward the promised land must begin right here

Author's Note

When reciting this poem at poetry readings, while saying the last word of the poem, I point to my heart because I don�t have enough fingers to point to all of the hearts in the audience. JJ

Reviews

[Stella]

This is a wonderfully written poem. Good work! Keep it up! :)