Maybe Not Before Leaving a Poem

Better a text littered in death,
Spiced by a salty happiness
Than a lot of suffering, cut
With shouts out to a lightweight joy.

The overall shudder transcends
The irresolvable puzzle
Of how this species can be both
In love with the worst violence—

The hunger to obliterate
Other sorts of people, but not
Before forcing them to suffer—
And capable of love itself

Of tenderness, forgiveness,
Staggering generosity.
Why pull so hard, opposing ways,
When a little neutrality,

Held to consistently, would do?
What are these bodies built to want
Beyond meals, mating, and long hours
Of sweet, uninterrupted sleep?

Someone will pray, halfheartedly
At least, for at least a short while,
For you, after you’re known as gone.
Then they’ll forget. And then they’ll go.