From Scattered Seeds of Thought

The Black Piper's Advocate

Writer's Cramp Prompt: The following was written by Bianca as our task for a writing exercise: Parallelismus Membrorum is of traditional Hebrew origin. It has lines of parallel construction and presents antitheses and complementary extensions. The lines are usually short and contain three or four words."

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The Black Piper's Advocate*

I do not kill

In war or defense.

But Evil lives

And strikes with viciousness.

My soul cringes as

I weep for justice.

Depravity attacks a child.

He rapes and mutilates.

“Thou shalt not kill,”

I quote the Bible.

He scorns my belief,

And detonates a bomb.

Thus am I stretched

By my mind's vacillations.

And he kills again,

Mocking my meekness.

I meditate on peace

And pray he’ll cease.

But he only laughs,

And pipes Death’s dirge.

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* In Scottish tradition the Black Piper is the one who plays at a funeral ceremony. Loosely, the Black Piper has come to mean Death, himself.

P.S. This poem is biographical.

I am Quaker, yet Evil makes me sometimes/often doubt that pacifism is the answer. Today's world (or has it always been like this?) seems like a boa constrictor wrapping itself around good intentions and squeezing all breath away.

This poem is that struggle. I want to believe in the path of peace, yet . . .