Arsiema Berhane - A Contemporary World

A crowd of people were staring
At the cold dead body
That was lying in the street.

Cops and cars, cars and cops,
Cops and cars and more cars and cops
Were all over.
And the light from the police cars
That was blinking
Made the scene look like
some kind of bistro.

He was so young,
the dead man on the floor
And I thought life was too short for him,
To die at this age.
I'd no idea where he lived,
no idea what he did
But something in his face
Seemed innocent and saintlike.

Suddenly,
A question formed in my mind
And I shot it to the crowd,
saying 'Why? '
'Why did they shoot him? '
I asked
But no one answered,
They just stared at me
And turned their faces back to the dead body.
Their look was so scary.

But then…,
'Maybe they think the world
Is a better place, '
An old woman said,
'Without him.'

31.1.06

Arsiema Berhane

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-contemporary-world/