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Poetry: Hate

by Dorothy Hoffman

Hate

It takes root in the garden,
spreading its tendrils, slowly poisoning the ground,
strangling the delicate blossoms
too fragile to resist.

Brother against brother,
intoxicated by the deadly fruit.
The seeds of hatred scatter beyond the garden walls,
taking root deep within their souls,
they carry it to every corner of the earth.

Children playing in the barren fields,
the desolate streets, the bombed-out buildings.
Dodging bullets, mines left from old wars, the reasons long forgotten.
Only the hate remains.
Twisting, entwining round their beating hearts,
invading minds, killing everything in its path.

How bleak the harvest of our hate.


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