A DISCUSSION OF LOVE AND HATE

“Pa, I got a somethin’ on my mind,

Say, I got a question on my mind!”

“Then quit your lingerin’, boy, let me know, and

Always ask, for the wisest men have inquiry.”

“Well, there are jus’ somethings I can’t--

I jus’ can’t quite grip or get to fit my sight.

Like how can one hate, or state distaste

Of another for the silliest things?”

“You are just like your ol’ man;

I’ve been yet to rake and gather what man leaves

When he shouts out words of leavin’, going, gone,

‘Cause even the most hateful have hidden humble hearts,

I swear.”

“Do you mean to say that all people got a lil’ good,

A bit of love but they can host at most some hate?”

“While even the selfless could count their self less,

Even the most beloved could be loved more.

Grab a pen and have this written down days hence, that if

Love is vocation, then we shall work endless nights,

In particular those for riders who drink drinks alone--no tip,

For, for them our love must not end, a cup filled past the brim.”

“And do we not deserve to get loved by them back?

They may tip their hats and go on past,

But what’s the point if in the end we get not a pat on our backs?”

“Those that hate use misjudged rifles to guide their fate,

And it’s sad, so sad, that they spend their days

In perpetual fighting and chin-up, chest-out walking,

But son, that gives us the gift to unload loads of love

From our hats to their hearts so that one day,

When the sun rises and the rooster crows as it always does,

They’ll know that fear will lose and peace will win,

I swear.”

“When one kills love shan’t shine for them,

For the men who war, surely it aint fair for us

To give out what freely we got to give?”

“Boy, that’s just it--we gotta give!

Even them, I tell you, the farthest out,

The poorest and the richest, and for

The doctor and the sickest, son, let no man

Escape the light of your love, and when you yell,

Let your shout be songs of rays and stars,

Drowning out the haste of even the loudest, most spiteful hate.”

“I will let my tears be many and my wails shake me

Before I accept the hate and lies I’m always told;

I will lay down my life for my friends and love, always love,

I swear.”

“Now that, my son, is a life all power, to treat love as man’s greatest friend.”