Born From This

Who were these people? Those who committed such casual cruelty? It wasn't a minority either but the majority. There are too many accounts of pain and sorrow to be otherwise. Was man another species altogether then? Without empathy, lacking basic human compassion. I listen to the wind howl from ago, watch it vomit the times past, our past, making my bowels grow hot and liquid. A sickness in my belly and in my bones. Born from this! Born from this. Change is too slow. It could have been me, I think with dread, with disbelief. Never! I think. That hatred or even apathy was on most tongues, in most hearts. I imagine my hand tight around a whip, the metallic taste of chains in sweaty palms, the rough calloused hands that work a rope. I imagine ripping a child from a mothers breast, denying him food, denying them all humanity. The anger and betrayal I feel for those who lived off the sweat and pain of others is overwhelming. Could I have done such loathsome acts? Remove the top layer of soil, of earth, dig down to yesterday…am I there? Who were they, these beasts who prey on the weak and downtrodden? Were they you? Were they me?