In the Face of Hate

In the face of hate
I look on with love
Love for the object of scorn
Love for the broken fragments 

Of what once was whole

That fly like shrapnel to destroy

In word

In movement

In the absence of action

To shield the face

From the ugly display

Of those who have forgotten

Whose they are 

To Whom we belong

Together

As One

Parts of one body

Fearfully and wonderfully made

Now just fearful

Because the wonder was lost

Lost in the perversion of the image

Of the Creator by the created

Into their own image 

Of power

Of lust

Of grandeur and glory

Servant becoming master

Of their own gospel which

Betrays THE Gospel

Which liberates us all 

From the chains that bind 

Instead of cuffing us 

In new shackles

Which will never let us be

Free from the prisons

Of our own creation

That distort our faces

Into stranger beings

Instead of neighbors

Where love is lost 

And hate is made

But Love demands 

We let our hearts

Break from the breaking

Of the whole into shards

Until love is found

In the remnants and rubble

To be cobbled back together

Transforming animosity 

Into amity

Where in the face of hate

Love overwhelms and

Overcomes

In presence

In power

Turning the other

Into "our"...