If We Are Human

I'm worried — you might also say concerned,
Or one of several other words we use
To indicate the shortness of the fuse
Of our emotions — seeing what I've learned
About your past. It's not just truth you spurned,
It's sympathy, for anyone: the Jews
Exiled and shunned; the women in the news
Oppressed and scarred; the maimed, the lost, the burned.

If we are human, we're required to feel,
To know each other, like bees in their hives,
Tribes primitive and civilized, with knives
Of hacked stone, or with blades of burnished steel
As bright as sunfire. For the common weal
If we are human, we connect our lives.