The World When Cruelty Takes All

By: Erica Gilman

 

How have we grown to become

stone figures

with hearts of cruelty

and anger,

hatred for our fellow man?

Why do our emotions run away

and take our empathy with them?

Love will be buried alive,

locked in a metal box if we allow it.

Empathy allows us to relate,

allows us to understand.

We can’t lose our love

or else the bands

holding this world together will snap,

and we’ll be left

holding the rubber band

with raw, red patches on our hands.

We’ll fight, we’ll conquer,

we’ll lose.

We’ll lose our care,

we’ll devour each other’s hearts whole.

And at the end,

when all is said and all is dust,

we’ll stand looking at one another,

hands outstretched,

bloody and eyes full of tears,

wondering where we went wrong

and who was left to care about us.