I am not a dangerous man.
Quiet and meek, in the back of the crowd, never seeking attention nor more than my due.
I am not a dangerous man.
Surely, I have killed: Mosquitoes by the bushels and flies by the peck but
I am not a dangerous man.
Weeds in the garden, death from steely edge and ripped asunder by hand. Potato bugs, corpulent larvae and pin-striped adult I killed by the thousands
For my family has to eat and
I am not a dangerous man.
Squirrels in the nut tree, rabbits in the cabbage, raccoon in the cherry tree, possum in the henhouse and mice in the pantry; all have met their fate whether by lead and steel, trap and poison but
I am not a dangerous man.
Steers and hogs for the freezer, stately stag in the glen and a faithful dog who hurt too much for that final trip to the vet. All have fallen by my hand but
I am not a dangerous man.
I could never kill a human, a Homo sapiens with a soul, for I am not a dangerous man.
The thought worms and tickles as I stand in the back of the crowd, so mild and meek:
Do Joe, Ho and Nance with four mortgages on their soul…Can they claim to be human?
If I don’t own my house with the note-at-the-bank then how can Joe, Ho and Nance own their souls? They sold them for Power and Mammon, Thrill and Acceptance as did their minions by the million.
No human need fear me as I stand at the back of the crowd for
I am not a dangerous man.
(Please feel free to share)
Shades of Kipling.
ReplyDeleteKipling could rhyme.
DeleteAs Jesus would say - surely they have had their reward in full.
ReplyDeleteGot me at : Steers and hogs for the freezer, stately stag in the glen and a faithful dog who hurt too much for that final trip to the vet.Put my last half dozen down with a Red Hawk . Cried alot !
ReplyDeleteThere are times when The Right Thing to do is not the easy thing to do.
DeleteMy children do not understand. Yet.
"...a faithful dog...". They embody loyalty and innocence, and they take a piece of our heart with them to the Rainbow Bridge.
ReplyDeleteI too am not a dangerous man--when left alone.
In 1967, Polish mercenary Rafal Ganowicz was asked what it felt like to take human life. He repled "I wouldn't know, I've only ever killed Communists."
RHT447 stole my thunder. "I am not a dangerous man"?
ReplyDeleteThere is a shadow in my soul, make no mistake about that. I am easily as capable of evil as any gulag guard. Yet I control myself, with the power the Almighty has put in me to control me. I am not harmless by any stretch. Meekness is the raw power of the stallion, under control. Not harmlessness. That is an important distinction. And anyone that crosses the line has only himself to blame for the outcome.
Meekness is strength under control. Discipline, patience, good will are hallmarks of the meek. But don't forget for one second that we ALL are capable of unspeakable evil, remorseless destruction. All it takes is pressure in areas we may not even know exist in ourselves. "The heart is desperately wicked, who can know it?"