These people, so gleefully cruel and violent,
who lean ever deeper into the propaganda of the mighty,
do not understand that while they think that they are important and powerful,
they are, in fact, completely replaceable, interchangeable agents of the state,
readily discarded, cast aside when they no longer serve their purpose.

While every single person they harm or terrorize or kidnap or kill
is a beautiful, irreplaceable part of a tapestry of care.

People who live severed from their humanity and refuse to change
will never know what it is to encounter a neighbor or a stranger
and offer kindness without expecting anything in return,
what it is like to be welcomed in community
based on connection and mutual care.

The only love they know is the love of power—
to accumulate it, wield it to control, inflict pain on anyone
who doesn’t yield to their sense of dominance and authority.
The only feelings they understand are their urges of coercion
and rage when they are challenged.

They will never know the depths of our love that’s the root
of our heartbreak seeing the brutality with which they enthusiastically harm
the vulnerable, the children, the mothers, the helpers.

They will never know what it is to look upon
someone whose actions are truly abhorrent to them,
whose way of existing in the world troubles their mind,
and want healing, not destruction, for that person.

They will never experience sitting in a circle of solidarity
where people shedding tears over the ruthlessness they see
also hold even their enemies in their hearts with grief and prayer.

They will never know,
but we do,
and we will continue to meet
their malediction with benediction,
their heartlessness with heart,
their atrocity with art,
their fruit of hatred
with love and joy and peace
and patience and kindness
and goodness and gentleness
and self-control.