The Unredeemed Poem by Jan Oskar Hansen

The Unredeemed
There are flashes when my liberal views falter
and I ask myself, these people like Breivik and
the killers in Ankara and Paris would it not be
better to shoot them down like rabbit dogs?
my loathing for them is boundless but I will not
shot them and not ask other to do the killing
in my name or in the name of humanity.

Behind their fanaticism their hatred to a society
that will not listen to their rantings; there must
an inner voice telling them how despicable they
are, perhaps not today in the flames of hate, but
In time in their cell, they will ask for forgiveness
only to find stillness a mist of their breath and
they cannot forgive themselves.