There Was A Moment

In history When the evil could have been Stopped A point when a positive Choosing Could have made All The difference Sadly No one saw it coming Most were blithely unaware The turning away of eyes and ears Was so easy and so Secure 'Don't bother me Don't you see I'm doing just fine Please Leave me alone' Inch by inch The shadow grew And no one knew What lurked behind The curtain Then suddenly It was too late The evil had taken Hold Now There was no such thing as Sanity Madness reigned Any reasonable way to Extricate The good from the Wicked Had long ago Disappeared And then came the Destruction The violence The killing The pain The endless Suffering No one escaped All were consumed And only a nuclear Blast Of equally intensive Insanity Could finally end What should have been Stopped In that first elusive moment That slipped so gently Away. ~ Laurence Overmire