Poem

Children are not born with hate

By Rodney Mazinter

Children are not born with hate,

They crave not death; they seek just love.

We owe to each a better fate –

A helping hand, not cynic’s shove.

Whence comes the deadly stick and stone

Hurled with venom by some child?

Whence naked hatred reared and grown,

That glares through eyes cold-set and wild?

From stick and stone comes knife and gun,

Life is short, sold all too cheap.

Long gone the squeals of youthful fun,

A dreadful crop of killers reap.

Vile man o’erturns the Lord’s design,

He sows the seeds of Devil’s spawn.

And out of Satan’s concubine,

A calamity of hate is born.

The world deserves a better fate:

Children are not born with hate.