They dragged him by his ankles
chained to the back of the truck
strewing flesh and limbs
across a blood-stained two-mile stretch of Texas road
      and the New York Post ran yet another picture
      of Monica Lewinksy on its front cover
and you ask why I don't believe in God?

I believe in humanity's infinite capacity
      for good and evil.
I believe that all humans are created equal.
I believe there's nothing more divisive
      than the concept of a chosen people.

The ignorance of an individual
is representative of nothing
but that individual's ignorance.

The persistence of stereotypes
makes every black man a nigger
and every white man a devil
      but linear thinking leads to illogical lives
      promoting racial divides
      with whites hating blacks hating browns
      everyone forgetting the reds were here first
      while yellow flies under the racial radar
      because everybody hates them.

If I believed in God
I'd pray for another flood
to cover the earth in thick, brown mud
      and any survivors would be covered in it, too
      thick and brown and impenetrable
      like the earth itself
      united       starting over from scratch.

But I don't believe in that.

I believe, if there ever was a God
      he's moved on
      a disappointed parent
      who decided his children were grown
      and would not change
      and my soul dies a little more each day.

I believe James Byrd, Jr. died a death too horrible for metaphors as humanity took one more step towards the abyss.