"What We Do Not Know"

When their blood splatters to the ground do our hearts sink?
When their flesh is ground to dust do we tremble?
Do their screams reach our ears? As they suffer, do we?
What of their pain do we know?
We know nothing.
What right have we to know nothing of them?
We blunder about with their souls, never seeing their mothers
weep or their children's head hung low.
We commit them to dance with the devil while we sit aside
pondering only the most superficial things.
These men and women are a hell of a lot more than "things."
They dance in pools of blood that first ran across our hands
and we know nothing of it.
We let the devil have his way with them and our hearts do not break.
What we do not know kills them from day to day to day.
What we do not know seals their fate.
What we do not know is that their fate is ours.
What we do not know is that they bleed now so we can bleed later.
What we do not know kills them and damns us.
What we do not know will only be known when the truth is revealed.