Finally gave up asking why

Never knew why he struck that other man so hard with that jagged piece of metal

Something always came over them and they had this overwhelming urge to just lash out

No reason was found when they shot all those men then gang raped their women

It was a long-simmering feud between two genetically identical groups in different clothes

Never knew why we kicked in their faces and then laughed as they lay bleeding

Many years later it seemed like just one more lowly task in another bad job

Did not understand why soldiers abused us and left us in poverty, with bastard children

They could not see our simple need for mercy and sweet grace in time to help

Always wondered about tossing plague dead inside those besieged castles

Was it the same reason we gave the Indians those smallpox-ridden blankets?

Had not a clue why they skewered us on sticks covered with their own shit

Would not ask why we showered them with napalm and agent orange

Never knew why that laughing Asian boy lost half a leg to an old land mine

Failed to comprehend that she stuffed her newborn into an empty milk carton

Tried to make sense of drugged children on rampages with machine guns

Could not give any reasons for their after school torture of that stray cat

Did not find a single flaw in the convoluted logic of the mass murderer

Lacked any sense that evil needed to fear any retribution now or in any future

Did not have any excuses for molesting those they entrusted me to teach

Found it useless to question my need to drink myself into dementia

Asked all the wise men why they did not act to put an end to war at last

Never knew why hatred came much faster and easier than simple kindness

Surprised by my discovery of the hidden list of those I would gladly kill

Could not side with the Hutus or the Tutsis, the Sunnis or the Shiites

Did not reflect upon the soulless corporate slaughter of the chickens, pigs and cows

Did not even question our need for more biological, nuclear and chemical weapons

Never knew why he wound up punching his wife until she cried and begged

Refused to see the violent cycle they always began following once again

Had no issue with light punishment for those boys who set a lost dog on fire

After all, it was just in fun and they likely would not harm a human being...

Barely skimmed short filler paragraph on the weekly killing of one more homeless vet

Ignored the righteous fury that goaded others to bomb abortion clinics

Never knew why he was instantly filled with terrible rage, sitting alone in his car

Did not ask how generations of the sons of single mothers filled up our prisons

Shook my head and strapped on a bomb to die killing civilian infidels for His glory

Could not imagine any deity that would leave those children bleeding on the street

Gave up wondering how the church spent the money given by the poor

How quickly he forgot the 20 illegales who suffocated inside his van in the desert

Was faintly surprised by the rape of starving refugees in filthy desert camps

Saw as their bloated babies witnessed with flies in their eyes

Did not question that a god of love and mercy demanded so many deaths

Never even considered that being rich did not require being wasteful

Never cared that automatic rifles were easier to obtain than vaccinations

Did not ask about why our peace loving democracy exported so many weapons

Was not too curious why the old and helpless were beaten, conned and robbed

Raised no issues over aiding brutally repressive dictatorships - for many decades

Never asked why education was required for driving but not for having children

Was confused for just a moment hearing that foreigners sold their own internal organs

Did not need to ask any questions as faraway oceans were stripped of life

Did not understand how AIDS orphans could turn to child prostitution

Never knew why fanatics around the world would hate us with such virulence

Heard with their hearts as their Creator denied those Godless evolutionists

Was slightly bemused about the fuzzy thinkers pushing their climate hoax

Had not the time to consider the depth of poverty all across the world

Observed in disbelief the power of one musty book as the universe expanded at light speed

Was not concerned that oil, water, air and land vanished quickly...worldwide

Watched unwanted girls arrive from china as our fatherless black boys grew up in jail

Rode in windows-up, air-conditioned comfort past dirty slums filled with lazy, shiftless sinners

Never even pondered how global corporate consolidation might actually advance human society

Did not realize how many drank and bathed just below where others shit

Never cared a bit when they stopped seeking the wisdom and advice of their elders

Were not interested in asking their merciful God why war was simply part of their nature

Had no time to actually consider their goals but always looked to achieve them even faster

Did not find any real answers among the heavy reams of fine print legalese

Just didn’t quite see how our traffic jams ruined the lifestyle of the polar bear

Did not really notice as earth’s richness was ever so thoughtlessly stripped away

Never considered seriously that man was a product of nature just like all the other animals

Could not grasp why billions hauled wood and water every day for cooking and drinking

Never knew why such as PCBs and asbestos, lead and mercury caused such a fuss

Was not convinced by junk science astrophysics but totally bought into religious fundamentalism

Was not too concerned with the distant genocide of those who lived in landfills

Did not question that the righteous joined their savior forever in a heavenly paradise

Could not see the reason that armed men led her quiet husband off that day

Quit bothering to ask the padre why the lord would permit this awful thing or that

Kept finding so little reason in those many life and death situations

Searched for any meaning left in the rubble from the bomb that killed that little girl

Finally gave up asking why they had to shoot at different soldiers every day

Never knew why her little puppy had to run out in front of that speeding car

Kept trying to get us to believe that their getting richer trickled down to help the poor

Never did help those smiling kids with their dirty clothes, greasy hair and muddy feet

Praised the Lord and let His will be done, without posing those sticky questions

Never asked why churches ran like franchises yet paid no taxes whatsoever

Never determined why country folk made alcohol, meth and opioids part of the heartland

Did not get used to those short dark strangers speaking Spanish in damn America

Never knew why one died in Iraq and another was shot dead on his porch

Took comfort in faith and gained a distracting relief from vexing mysteries

In the end did not understand why others lived on but one dollar every day

Should not have questioned why she had never heard any of those happy songbirds