Is This Hate?

Contemplating hatred. It's thrown around so much, do people really know what it feels like? What it really means? Have they experienced the all-consuming flames?

I thought I knew.

I thought I comprehended.

But now that I've grown

To "hate" many things,

Do I truly know what hate is?

This burning anger,

Passionate in its deadliness,

Is this what hate is?

Emptiness ringed in fire,

Rage and despair closing in--

Is this hate?