The Verdict Poem by Peter Gumbo

Run! Run! Run!
The voice came shaper than a bullet from a gun,
Down! Down! Down!
The buildings came crumbling down.

The sun would have seemed brighter if it weren’t for the smoke,
The air calmer if it weren’t for the noise,
A dreadful act committed out of choice,
And they say it is in obedience to Almighty’s voice,

All round darkness settles,
Amid the broad day of light,
And confusion looms,
Amid myriad booms.

The streets and sidewalks are colored in red,
As blood drips from the people running in dread,
The air is filled with the stench of blood,
Wafting across the faces of the buildings,

How does the scale of humanity,
Tip to such levels of cruelty,
A single blow,
Is aimed to involve even those who do not know.

The plea of guilt is forced upon the innocent,
In a court where justice prevails in the voice of a single person,
A verdict is issued in the absence of lawyers and witnesses,
And sentence carried out without the knowledge of the accused.

For how long,
Must we embrace such a wrong?
If we let it breed,
Then we will loose indeed,