Designed

Sometimes I forget
    That all things follow designs
We hollowed out the Earth
    And filled it carefully with mines

We can knit in careful patterns
    To make a scarf or hat
Interweaving narrow threads
    With surgery through skin and fat

Some folk made with delicate craft
    Rockets to carry humanity to space
We studied how the air flows
    To make us faster in each race

I try to remember good designs
    So that I do not despair
At the men who design weapons
    With great craft and care

When I read of history
    About the atrocities we've done
I see a person with my learning
    Wielding a pen like a gun

Chemical weapons were designed
    As was fertilizer for our bread
We choose our own impact
    So let's design things for good, instead

***

I recently read Maus by Art Spielman. It is a very beautiful and haunting graphic novel, detailing both Art's relationship with his (Jewish and Polish) father, and how his father survived during the war. Overall, it is a tale of survival and grim circumstance. In one frame, Art includes a small building plan of a crematorium. For some reason, it struck me how each element in this building (and in all the mechanisms) were indeed designed and planned. May I be granted the wisdom to never be involved in such designs myself.