He stood there, fully armed and armor clad

Someone's brother, son and a little ones dad

He stood firm as all around him chaos churned

He watched his neighbors loot and burn

Through an opaque visor and beneath a mask

To not sew tears seems an impossible task

He stands and then slowly exhausted he kneels

Insults, rocks, and bombs forget that he feels

They attack and berate the face of an oppressor

As he stands an idle target is he the aggressor

Change will come of this he is sure

He will always stand ready, he will endure

Republic by sweat, blood and toil

Inhumanely we stole them to work our soil

He stood there aching, plowing and sad

Someone's brother, son and a little ones dad

Execution should not be a death sentence

If death comes more than one suffers penance

Righteously, ignorantly or simply wrong

We chip away from the inside it won't take long

We are more than directions left or right

It's lip service to exalt another mans plight

Yesterday the high water mark in our sanity

Nuanced and individual we are humanity

It's they, it's them and sometimes those

But he remembers they are not his foes

He did not sign, he did not argue or introduce

He did not interpret, amend or reduce

It is not their's nor is it his sins

To save lives take away their pens

Deep in their marble they rule with impunity

They seek division, as they can't control unity