CONFLICT

At the close of the civil war, with a union victory in sight, Lincoln spoke these words:

“Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”

This time of pandemic, protest and violence

is a further accounting

of the terrible legacy of slavery.

I support Black Lives Matter

And I fear America is unravelling.

Can we defund the police when

Crime and violence are on the rise?

Is the murder of George Floyd

A product of our compromise?

We don’t choose the time;

There is no guarantee.

We must move forward