Oh sacred rage

in the holiest flames,

so insistently told

that it’s madness believing.

The broad swaths of the force,

all the perilous fights –

yet so often we watch

the brutality flaming.

And the rockets’ red glare,

the bombs bursting in air,

the brutality sure

to perpetuate war.

Oh say how those savage

beliefs do destroy,

because no one is free

when we dwell in the grave.