Not all of us are good at sums.
Math seems an unknown language
But, Here’s a rule of thumb
we all can glean,
“Evil adds up”
ignored if not unseen
by passersby who briefly notice
the drunk huddled with his rum
in the doorway,
below the underpass
as they scurry by.
Integers of one
are not the same one as I,
we tell ourselves.
That one is different
than the one who is I.
Integers add up
in natural disasters.
Tornados, hurricanes
fires and floods
multiply the integers
until the numbers draw the light
of media to their plight,
for awhile.
The numbers are reduced
by such attention.
When media lights go off
we passersby forget the
need to finish the subtraction.
Not a single drunk,
but entire blocks of numbers
are left in evil’s hold,
seeking shelter and warm beds,
a drink of water, a loaf of bread.
Crime lords and government
corruption and economic destruction
multiply exponentially the evil done
to entire communities
forced to flee to safety as refugees.
Evil adds up until its mass
is beyond measure
as we passersby seek our pleasure.
A father and daughter on a park bench
in Merry Old England after touching
the handle as they closed their door,
poisoned by secret police abroad,
sent from Putin and his minions
whose minions are legion,
fallen angels from The Cold War,
who explore every nation
with a single message,
“You cannot hide from evil.”
There is no place to run
as evil has been left to grow,
to multiply beyond every border
of the New World Order.
The people of Ukraine know this well,
after years of dividing their nation
from the hell they struggle to quell.
They are not mere passersby
to the evil driving tanks in their streets,
sending missiles into buildings
where children dwell.
Each piece of war equipment tallied
and accounted for.
Numbers measured on both sides
of the equation of war.
The only story that adds up
is that evil has multiplied
to drive the suffering
to basements and train stations below
the streets of an entire nation.
Ukrainians do not clutch a bottle of rum.
They clutch one another,
measuring the possibility
of survival upon evil’s arrival
on their own doorsteps.
They seek a drink, a loaf of bread,
the warming comfort of sleep
in their own bed.
Lesson learned that evil adds up.
Passersby add to that equation.
Passersby who drop coins in a cup
and tell themselves they do good.
annarino writes 