This line wasn’t drawn yesterday or today
This line goes way back
Straight through my heart
This line is as red as the blood that
Stained Jackie’s tailored suit
In the shadow of the grassy knoll
This line hangs as heavy
As the rope that bore such
Strange and bitter fruit
This line is the scar on Gabby Giffords’ scalp
This line is the tear falling
Down a mother’s cheek
This line is hot with rage and fury
This line was uttered in Ford’s Theatre
As theatrically as ever
This line is the sting of the whip
This line is the manacle that holds you in place
This line is drawn tight
Tight as a bow whose arrow
Will take flight
On a straight line to death
This line underscores the tally
Of the lost
This line spits hot lead
Randomly
In chaos
This line kills
This line is not a drawing
It’s a pathway to oblivion
And everlasting dark
David Trudel © 2012
This is a response to this great poem by Susan Daniels:
http://susandanielseden.wordpress.com/2012/09/07/that-line/
That line
if there is
a line between free speech
& treason
between change
& revolution
between assembly
& rioting
it is fine
it is dark
& it is drawn
in blood
the problem is
it takes death
to tell the difference
Wow–this response is powerful–more powerful than my original. Love it.
Thanks Susan.
This is brilliantly written. I agree a very powerful response.
Thanks, I appreciate your kind words.