Away From Our Door
by Ken Sanes
I would like to make
a simple request:
Please keep all forms of harm
away from our door.
Please keep away
all
the false accusers,
along with the hypocrisy finders
and the minders
of other people’s business,
the Internet spies
and the TV tellers of hi-tech lies.
Please keep them all
away from our door.
And please keep all inquisitions
away from our door,
that would light bonfires
for book burning
and transpose principle
so truth is deception
and indoctrination is learning.
These are the movements
that see a distorted reflection
as the only ideal
and would try to force us
to think what they think
and feel what they feel
Please also keep away
all of the conquerors,
driven by greed
and by grandiose dreams
of empire and glory.
Their dreams are a nightmare,
and they keep turning history
into a horror story.
But most significantly
please keep away people
who would use
the most dangerous technologies
to achieve terrible goals
involving power and hate.
As they amass their arsenals,
we are left uncertain
about the fate of our children
and about our own fate.
And we are forced to wonder:
Will nuclear death
come from a ship in a harbor?
Will it come from the sky?
We worry over the prospect
that the world we know will die.
So please keep away everyone
who is lost to greed and hate,
and don't make us suffer
for the fallen state
of a world sick with violence,
because hell is empty
and the devils are here;
we are trapped in their ritual
of vengeance and fear.
And because, in our essence,
we have the right to be safe,
and the right to be free.
But we're disturbed by what we know,
and despair at what we see.
We despair at a world
full of deception and disguise,
and at widespread violence
that harms while it lies.
We yearn for peace,
but we're caught in a war.
Maybe together we can
at least keep the worst of it
away from our door.