A poem by: Ben Dunk. 1968.

TRIGGERED MURDER

Dead!

shot in the head.

Criminal,

passionate or political?

They say:

“Take every man’s gun away;

Banish temptations.”

Then; why arm the United Nations?

Solutions are not so simple.

for weapons endue a weak force lethal;

make men feel equal;

until;

the razor-edge trigger-pull,

starts widowhood.

How long does a man brood,

upon this course-

of premeditated aggression?

Which deep seated source,

prompts this appalling decision,

into the conscious mind?

Answers are too obscure for us to find.

No one sees the scheming,

The mental churning

over, time and time again.

Indications nil for someone sane

to intervene-

before, the irreversible hammer falls.

Endorsing the cave-man’s instinctive reaction to rivals

The deed done;

death’s sights,

no remorse bites.

Careless of personal torment to follow.

Seeming to wallow,

insensible in a hollow

of satisfied primitive refractory.