So if it wasn’t an itch in your fingers to slap your neighbor down so you could remain,
And it wasn’t a desire to recapture your youth by being contrary,
And it wasn’t that your arm is incomplete without a firearm to give it flare,
And it wasn’t dormant sadism wanting to watch neighbors bleed in the streets,
And it wasn’t your holy book autonomously flapping open to condemn love of all shades,
And it wasn’t that inferiority complex flaring up to claim the enemy beneath must be lanced,
And it wasn’t that whisper in your head saying, ‘all they’re good for is oil, they all just want to kill us,’
And it wasn’t a recapitulation of that founding, paternal gene that bade you take away then make property,
And it wasn’t a resurgence of that lifelong aversion to your mother,
And it wasn’t the lesser of two evils …
Then what was the reason? Has it survived? And has he destroyed your faith in your government as you destroyed mine in our country?