Who Are You Speaking? ...Can I Kill A Friend? How Much Is My Brother? Poem by RIC BASTASA

and he would say
let not the killing stop
my idol is speaking
before some dignified people
somewhere in Singapore

statistics runs at 6 thousand
or so dead countrymen
it will go higher and those who
favor the killing
are not tired of rationalizing

they who do evil deserve to die
that is our law
on the other hand, i sometimes, think,
whether i like it or not,
it is them, my brothers and sisters
who are put to death.

they who were born out of love,
they who were taken cared of from birth
no mosquito shall bite,
no fly shall land,
no humiliation whatsoever,

'they do not deserve to live'
and who are you speaking?
are you not human too?
are you not made of flesh and bone?

i will get a mirror
see your full body
i will get a magnifying mirror
see your face
find the craters of the moon
the landscape of Mars
the darkness of Pluto,

everyone is worth dying for,
someone said that some years back
and he is a hero,
and here you are now, speaking,
everyone is worth killing for.

i have killed a fly. I will kill a cockroach.
But i have never killed a dog.
And given a chance, i will never kill one.

Can i kill a friend? How much is my brother?