Every Cruelty

 Every cruelty is certain of its righteousness.Or it shivers & collapses.Maybe it multiplies even as it dies out on its nest of partial misgiving.A man runs down the highway clutching a small child, gunshots from the unseen.A shirtless boy stares into the camera where his brother had lain.I am afraid, so I have not understood.That human is in the smoking kitchen.That human can't find his hands.Which one is a better candidate for thirst.Which one loves his thirst best?The army marched through the mined hills.The army of boys marched too, a continent away, into villages they were born into.Healing waters or death by starvation awaited them in a parallel village.Workers visible by hands — those who will stay in the field.Who can load the weapons.Dear dark day, promise them. ____Leslie Bumstead is the author of Cipher/Civilian (Edge Books, 2005). She lives in Takoma Park, MD.