THE NEW GOD

That was not your boy

dying there

in the blood and flame

torn apart by bullets

and terror

begging for mercy

pleading for escape

wishing to hold your hand

one last time

It was not him

who you loved from his first breath

and cherished beyond words

until the day you released him

from that final embrace

and watched him board a plane

to war

It wasn't him screaming in agony

and terror and panic

and utterly horrific, helpless sorrow

Take comfort

There's a New God now

a God who’s not content to cast evil men

into a lake of fire

to weep eternally, and gnash their teeth forever

There's something worse planned

for those politicians and investors 

in guns and bombs

who screamed for war

while hiding their own sons 

behind their backs

They who sent your precious child,
who you created from your very flesh,
and nurtured from your breast,

to be burned and shot 

reduced to uncountable bits of skin and bone

beneath bombs and bullets

for a slightly taller pile of cash

they will know all that terror and pain

first hand

they will embrace it like a mother

For the New God is just

and plucks your precious child's soul

from the storm of carnage and fright

replacing it with the souls

of those who thought to grow richer

from that mad and pointless battle

while hiding at a distance

with their own loved ones

(some even laughed, while counting coins)

There is no Lake of Fire

after these evil men die,

blissfully ignorant as they burn but once

They will ride

inescapably 

in the bodies 

of precious babies

and each and every comrade 

and fellow soldier

they sent to die 

screaming in terror and agony

All of them

one by one

the deaths will be checked off

and there are thousands upon thousands

They will feel all that pain

It wasn't your boy at all

not for a single moment

for the New God is just

And after those deaths

they ride the jagged hell

of mothers

and fathers

and every brother, sister, 

child, spouse, and friend

who were told their beloved

would not be coming home again

They ride inside those

who were told their dearest

      died

                        screaming

young and hopeful

full of love and potential

instead of peacefully 

at the end of a long, fruitful life

They ride that hopeless, pointless death

at the end of the million memories

experiences

hopes and dreams

and secret desires

stolen kisses

and exams at school

silly dances in the rain

and Christmas mornings

cookies and kittens

and bowls of soup

warm, comforting hugs

after skinned knees

and broken hearts

all the things that made a life
and all the things that could have been

all the things taken

by those bullets and bombs and flames

so some lord could grow a little richer

Ride it

This New God is as malicious

and merciless

as those politicians and investors

who screamed for war

when there could have been peace

because dividends were more valuable than dads 

and kickbacks were more precious than kids

and pitiless patriotic pride was more important

than patience

Ride it

Hide your own sons

Send others

Hide yourselves safely away, too

in this life anyway

but fear the New God

for whom a lake of fire is not enough

for whom eternally burning 

and screaming 

but once

is too merciful 

fear the God who plans something

so

much

worse

complete

and total

inescapable 

physical and emotional

empathy

with every single broken body

and heart

one after another and another

and another

without pause

or pity

until every single last tear

and lonely night

and empty embrace

is paid for

The Old God

of fire and brimstone

was merciful

the New God

is just

you will beg

and plead

and scream with all your being

for that lake of eternal fire instead

I am a prophet of the New God

Repent

for peace is far more precious

than power

and all your trillions

cannot 

will not

buy your way off that ride

you will realize in the end, 

with complete and utter helpless dismay

that all your mountains wealth 

were merely an illusion

the only thing of any real value 

was souls

individuals

their experiences of ordinary lives

with such immeasurable amounts of love

for all the littlest things

and other ordinary souls

these held the only real value in this world

do not take that wealth away