Never Been to Salem

Few witches burning gets a little toasty

“Never Been to Salem”

 

Never been to Salem

To see where they burned witches

For I dinnae know I could and still say sane –

 

That mankind could work

Such heinous, sinful crimes

While all the while proclaiming in god’s name –

 

Yet I should not be

So naïve, surprised by things

That are so rife and wont through history –

 

For Salem was our first

But sadly not the last

Ask the slaves, the Stonewall gays, the Cherokee –

 

Such bloodshed lingering on

Grudges, disputed property,

Teenage girls who found their power in saying names –

 

No, never been to Salem

To see where they burned witches

For those hearts afire and mine are one and same

Author's Note

This one wad been floating around in my head for YEARS, going through several never-fully-realised variants until what you see here

Reviews

[Tenten]

ok, this makes me sad because of the realization, i'd be in the same spot a few centuries back. its a good piece though, the flow is soft but gets through. nicely done.

[Poeticpiers]

Enjoyed and agreed with your theme. Mankind is very good at finding scapegoats,Nicely written in poetic prose