Violence Frightens Me Poem by Shalom Freedman

VIOLENCE FRIGHTENS ME

Violence frightens me
It disgusts me
I hate it
But I live
Because there are those who must violently contend with violence for me
My defenders
Irony and sadness and pain and knowledge
Only when we learned to defend ourselves with violence against violence
Did we cease being the easy victims of violence
Now we are still victims of violence
But far less
And we to defend ourselves
Do more violence than we once did
Irony of ironies
Sadness of sadness
I live because of the violence others must do to protect me
And I hate violence
Most violence
The violence that does not protect me and those I love.