You, the People

The poison and the grace
Are the people. They aren’t
A monolithic block,

Not in any country,
Not ever anywhere.
Populations evolve,

Swirling through their systems,
Swirling through each other,
Mating, killing, helping,

Becoming each other.
The people are not one.
In dense concentrations,

You will always find both
The kindest and cruelest
Behaviors a human

Can be capable of.
No country has a grip
On the finest or worst.

If vile cupidity,
Waves of torture, random
Violence can break out

Here, then also there, there,
Then also here. Greatness,
Honor, and bravery

Are possible in all
And in any cluster,
However organized.

The organization
Only makes some difference,
Constrains some tendencies,

Encourages others.
The terrible mistake
Is to think given traits

Inhere in a people
However they’re defined—
Nation, region, belief,

Ethnicity, descent—
The one poison, one grace
Pulse in all human groups.

Study the systems. Think
Hard on how to improve
Their guidance. The people

Will always contain souls
Vicious and tender. You
Are one of those souls. You.