A Poem upon reading James Cone
It’s always “too soon” to talk about oppression and liberation
The conservative assumption that things should be as they were
During the "good old days" that were so bad for so many
Combines with the liberal assumption that we should not rock the boat
And instead allow change to occur by a million tiny increments
Until we postpone any real change indefinitely into the future of God
So that real change always recedes from before our eyes
Like a cloud
Like a sunset
Like the infinitely deferred hope of the Second Coming
And perhaps not “like”
Perhaps it “is”
It is the infinitely deferred hope of the Second Coming
Infinitely deferred
By our complicity with death and destruction
By our complicity with oppression and apathy
By our complicity with the Cross and the Lynching Tree.