the system creates
both the killer and the killed.
one dark engine turns.
a trigger is pulled.
not a silence,
but a scream.
the martyr is born.
they demand your tears.
a performance of respect.
their lie demands truth.

do not mourn your foe.
their job was to stand against.
your grief is their win.
answer words with thought.
a calm heart in the hot flames.
that is how you win.
the drummers of war.
do not target the noise-makers.
target the command.

the business of death,
exported for many years,
now comes home to roost.
a death is not fire
extinguished,
but embers spread.
the forest will burn.
you cheer the bullet?
you are a fool,
a useful tool.
you feed the same beast.

flags fall to half-mast.
for one,
but not the thousands.
selective sorrow.
the enemy's not
the man, but the vast machine
that built his small mind.
a shield of a corpse.
to preach fear and hate.
two sides of one coin.
the killer and the killed both
serve their master,
chaos.