� 2004 Harvey H. Warwick III
Most of the time, it's
Numbers on the news
Noises in the night
Sirens on the street
Photos in the paper
How horrible
Lucky I don't live
In that neighborhood
Until it's your turn, then
All the warnings in the world
And possible precautions
Cannot properly prepare you
For the godawful gut-wrenching revelation
That crime can happen to you too
Nor silence the secret suspicion
That in a world warped by war
And transformed by terror
There are no safe places anymore.
12/04