Playing Dead

image borrowed from australiannetworknews.com

Playing Dead

“Everything you want is on the other side

of fear.”--Jack Canfield

On Friday the 13th, six days ago

in Paris in the Bataclan Theater at a show,

there was the deadliest attack in French history.

with innocents as the quarry, in every single row,

butchered, slaughtered, murdered & callously killed,

while some played dead, lying in pools of blood spilled;

but we are told not to ever do that--

told to run, to scatter like rats, to be strong-willed.

In England, the National Counter-Terrorism Security Office

gives us a survival list to study & second-guess;

escape, run or hide, unless the attackers can see you,

like victims in a city zoo; if so just swallow all the stress,

just realize that you standing in a killing zone

& as the bullets fly, you are really not alone.

So run if you can, play dead if you can not,

for in a trap you are now caught, your fate unknown.

I hope there are swarms & flocks of angels there

too, ready to catch you, to became a heavenly pair

of souls departing, spirituality fierce & aglow,

offering love to absorb blows, life everlasting to share.

Perhaps it’s not helpful, still it is a proven fact,

for every successful attack, a dozen more are sacked.

We must not live our life hearing the threats, feeling Fear,

for the cost of liberty is dear, & safety is never exact.

Glenn Buttkus

Posted over on dVerse Poets Pub "Poetics"

We are tasked to write a Florette.