The Uncle

On front of the paper of record
A frame from a smuggled recording
Showed him standing casually, about

To execute a shirtless soldier
Cowering on the ground. How can you not
Love humanity for its excess cruelty

On a planet that is beautiful because
It has been cruel for so long now
That the atmosphere itself is blue?

It's been weeks since that picture
Sickened me into details: the videos
The soldiers about to be executed

Had of their own gleeful crimes
On their cellphones, the motives
Of vengeance against a minority,

Revenge for a missing father,
Sheer sadism. Who can measure
What has happened since,

What it meant, or what next?
Ask the young man in purple fleece
Who looked at the camera and smiled.