annarino writes

A restless night wondering if the sign is still in place.

The sign I had to replace.

The young white man in the white SUV

loaded the Harris sign in his car’s rear

compartment, deportment of theft.

What cause does he serve?

My neighbor called to report, quite unnerved

as she saw him hurry my sign inside

then jump in the back seat of his ride.

I wondered at first to pause and consider

if the thief is motivated by hate,

or greed for a sign of his own.

Wishful thinking, I know.

Hate burns so fast, 

Yet, we respond too slow

to catch the numbers on the license plate

of the vehicle likely stacked 

with signs this crew used to show hate.

The sign has been replaced, another “on-order”

just in case the thief returns to take more plunder.

And, as I always have done, still I wonder

what motivates such sinful behavior.

Mild, stealing a campaign sign may be;

but, crossing hate’s boundaries,

moving over mine to steal my sign

shows hate’s design clearly, not merely

a sin old as time, and hard to contain

once such boundaries are crossed.

Such sins raise an alarm,

where and when would this thief

decide to cause even more harm?

Hate, once acted upon, fuels the fire;

and harming another grows in desire.

Words matter, you see.

they motivate young men such as he

to cross over boundaries once firmly in place.

Such is a nation’s disgrace 

to act as if this campaign

is simply another political race.