The right to bear arms?

I am not afraid of men per se,
what I fear is empowering him.
Deprived of the tools of destruction
we are, after all, merely feeble beasts
constrained by our physical limitations.
We may rage as is our nature,
we may threaten as is our way,
we may even strike out,
as proof of our immaturity,
unarmed we are relatively weak!
But how the beast changes when
rage is given expression by arms.
I tremble at our capacity to inflict harm!
Knowing the truth of our callousness,
our propensity for violence,
I wonder what madness drives society
to arm such beasts with impunity!
The archaic right to bear arms,
regardless of rights and wrongs, surely
belongs to a different era;
a dark age where tempers were vented
and hostilities openly enacted.
But in this day and age, can we not dare
to aspire to a more civilised way?
We know we cannot tame the beast,
God knows how we have tried in our hearts, but
surely we have reached the stage where we
can at least try to restrain it, deny it reason,
moral justification and the means to harm.
Surely it’s time that we embrace the truth,
and seek to cage our inhumanity, so that we may in time
learn to sleep in peace and allow others to do the same.

50 Words Stories: charge of the light brigade

Such was the magnitude of foolishness, that even driven to ground by the weight of impending defeat, a lone voice dared to speak of hope. If sincerity did linger, it clearly left long ago, surrendering all to madness, whose reckless breath urged brave men to rise,… only to fall. “Charge!”

unsolicited advice

so easy they flow
with silk like touch
that conscience
cannot with it bind
born of lips that preach
as if true light shines
from mere expressions
of moments observed
and stories retold
as if all wounds leave
the same scars
and bleed with
the same ferocity
they add weight to
alter balance
and direct minds
but even good intentions
often arrive ill timed
caring not from whence
the madness flowed
or whether the ship
is fit to steer the course
laid out so sweetly
with words that claim
the wisdom of ages
without offering
proof of salvation
or granting freedom
to deal with issues
in ones own way and pace
these cheap words
though easily spoken
in light of day
when touched by
personal darkness
is often cast aside
as pure madness
even by the voice that
did offer them to others