Sacred Anger

Sacred anger, as we have experienced,
rests on hate and pride and, inevitably, justification
in the name of God;
God’s will being cited as the reason 
for spilling blood,
achieving dominance and, finally, destruction
of non-believers.

 There’s another sacred anger that depends on love
and a God who seeks good for all:
food, health and freedom;
at least enough 
to achieve and enjoy a life 
that includes the choice
of one or another religion, or none at all.

 There is no people without hate or who have no pride,
but Americans have become the worst.
When it comes to greed, America leads the pack.
And as for pride, 
America’s ideals bear no relation to what we do, 
what we hear, what we say. 

 Having once been seen as a “savior, ”
we’re now the butt and target of most world anger 
and by some are even called “the Great Satan.”
We have even failed our own poor,
never mind those outside our borders. 
Nor can we claim to be a Christian nation in fact or deed, 
and never were, politically speaking.

 We live a dream that has no reality in this world.
Our luck has about run out and it’s all our fault.
In our greed and arrogance, 
we fail to hear the anger and need in our streets
and in the world, 
and the violence, including wars and murder.
We have failed our founders’ dreams.
The hoped for “Light on the Hill” is no longer seen,
covered up with ashes of neglect, and from war great stress
and unbelievable suffering that is even worse.