508. THESE FLAGRANT WORDS

THESE FLAGRANT WORDS
For some sort of ragtag protest they
brought you home - tattered, and in chains,
and in rags. They stapled your face to the
posters all along the town - each way in and
out. Majestic as you were you were still 'depicted'
as a common scold, the criminal of the month, and
the 'one who wouldn't get away.' Chief Carmine
DesPais himself had said it.
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In retrospect, out riot made little sense.
Or none. Three dead - one a child,
killed obviously by accident.
For that now we all
must burn.
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'I'd rather raise Cain than be Abel.'
I heard someone from the other
end of the jail shouting that just
yesterday. Of course, from
where I was, I didn't really know
what he said - phonetics being
what they are. Being locked up,
perhaps all he said was 'I'd rather
raise cane than be able'. Meaning,
I think, he'd rather be proud of
being in jail for rioting than to
be out 'there', free.
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For myself, I'm still really not sure.