Matthew 19:14, Mark 10:14, Luke 18:16
Has it come to this, then?
A four-year-old child weeping in terror
as a bottle is flung over the safety barrier
to smash at her feet
as she goes to school.
The next day a pipe bomb comes over the fence.
A mob baying with rage
because these children whose parents worship the same Saviour
but in their own, a different way,
dare to pass through the sacred ground of their UDF-defended streets
on their way to read the message of love
in the Bible people went to the stake
to give them the right to have in their own native tongue.
How many crimes have we committed
in the name of the one who sets the captive free!
Was the mob who howled for him to hang on a cross to die
that Easter day also filled with the same righteous indignation?
How appropriate that the school they'd burn down if they could
is named for the Holy Cross
that hangs in both their churches.
Let me tell you, brothers and sisters in Christ,
that you are planting dragons' teeth
that will spawn new warriors to bomb the centres of your cities.
The frightened child you terrorise today
is the suicide bomber of tomorrow.
Suffer little children, it is written,
to come unto me.
Not if their way runs through our estate they won't.
September 4, 2001
