Law and piety,
hallmarks of civil society,
often collude
in evil to conclude.*
In the name
of both they march insane,
seeking out one to blame
for all the shame.
And so they do
and murder countless, or a few,
often just one
whose death suffices for everyone.
And so it goes;
one’s blood flows
allowing law and piety
to return as civil society —
the necessary temporal
within the sacrificial eternal.
Some say it was once for all
but the once is in each one’s call.
life to death to birth, One shows,
and round and round it goes….

*idea from a meditation by Frederich Buechner