Noses

It baffles those whose minds can clearly see

how simpletons can hate and hate so much

that they will slice their noses clear away

just to scoff and prance in front of those

they think to be their mortal enemies.

•

Their noses lie in heaps upon the ground,

blood streams down their faces, streams into

their mouths; and all the while they cheer and jeer

that they cannot be punished for their crimes

against the common good and decency.

•

Meanwhile they destroy the aqueducts

that carry life-sustaining water to

their own communities, stop the flow

of aid to themselves, their families, their friends

aid that helps them stave off misery

When misery comes closest to their homes.

Distracted by gurgling noseblood and spitting threats

they do not see the self-harm they inflict

or feel the masochism buried in

their raging shrieks of mad, sadistic glee.

•

The gods decreed unregulated souls

to be their own self-acting punishment,

but overlooked the corollary fact

that their self-harm harms ordered souls as well.