Torture
by Sam M. Phillips

Desolate,
Spread thin by woe,
Black cloud,
Raven’s call.

Writhe in pain,
Struggle in foreign grasp,
Sear,
Burn,
Maim.

Torture,
Man,
How?
Why?

Is this pleasure for you?
Have you no empathy, sympathy?
Are you a cold rock,
Impenetrable?

Can you not sense anguish?
Does it not fill your own soul with the same?
Surely, this is reason enough
To avoid being the cause of suffering.

But it is reason that
Has brought you to this,
With reason you have argued away
The humanity of others,
Reduced them to beasts,
And thus excused
Your depravity.

You say God is on your side,
That you are right,
But you are lost,
And do not know God.

To know God
Is to have compassion
And care for all,
To put yourself in a place
To receive your own actions,
And see how it would feel
To be treated thus.

Through this we learn the true law,
The law of the heart,
A law that moves up and beyond
The harsh laws you use
To justify your cruel actions.

Do not look to man’s law
To find moral compass,
It is blind,
Unthinking,
Unfeeling.

The whole of the true law
Is in your own heart,
Each man, woman,
Capable of vision
In and of themselves.

***

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