State Poem by Leon Moon

When I was not born
And not long passed
Man feared the steel rod
And conviction of fist

But we are in the age
That is the entire age
Where men exchange lightning
For an ice-blind stare

A single word is enough
To strike his spirt dumb.

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We would much rather a beating
And glory of physical tragedy
Than a public hanging,
A stranger's antidote:

To men we don't know
And to the man we are

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The sword is not enough
To strike the soul to love.