ANOTHER EMPTY CRADLE

by Judy Alciatore

ANOTHER EMPTY CRADLE

ANOTHER EMPTY CRIB

IS THIS WHAT GOD INTENDED

MAKING EVE FROM ADAM'S RIB

ANOTHER INFANT SLAUGHTERED

ON THE ALTAR OF ABUSE

PRAISING THEIR GOD, MOLOCH

FOR THEIR LEGAL RIGHT TO CHOOSE

ANOTHER LIFE IS VANQUISHED

AND DO WE STILL KEEP SCORE

HOW MANY, LORD, HOW MANY

MORE AND MORE AND MORE

ANOTHER EMPTY CRADLE

ANOTHER EMPTY BED

NO CURLY-HAIRED INFANT

TO REST HIS LITTLE HEAD

FOR HE LIES NOW IN PIECES

THROWN DOWN UPON THE FLOOR

AND WE, WITH MUTED VOICE, NOW CRY

OH, LORD, OUR SOULS RESTORE

THANK YOU, LORD

Note from JudyAlciatore: Apparently, there is some confusion about the 3rd line of this poem....It is a rhetorical question, meant to make people think...And, of course, its meaning is that God did NOT intend for babies to be slaughtered...Surely the rest of the poem makes that clear.