Desperation

I read in the news today,
of a stabbing in Old Jerusalem.
Palestinian man went on a spree,
shot dead after knifing three.
And as I read this morning news,
The daily horror to muse,
reflecting, I wonder what motivates,
a man to self-destruct in this way?
What is the motivator of the actions,
the mindset of the murderer?
The death drive overtaking, feeding,
eating away at his soul,
a beast with an unsated hunger
to kill and be killed in turn.
Would Lacan have a field day?
Can psychology explain this event,
a man so broken within himself,
psyche wounded beyond repair,
that the only answer is death?
Can this terrorist’s mirror image,
the reflection of youth so perfect
that it cannot be attained,
a distortion of spirit so severe,
humanity is betrayed by its crime.
Suicide by soldier;
has life come to this?
The soul of a man helpless,
Fighting blindly as a rabid dog,
Desperation turning to nihilism
with no way out but the Void.
Imagining him, the killer,
Individual with such despair
There was no other choice,
no other action to take,
but annihilation of self,
meaningless and futile.
Just another dead man,
Forgotten in a few days,
until the next stabbing,
or bombing, or rocket attack.
A man fighting oppression,
only to be turned into a martyr,
monster, hero, villain,
never the true face revealed,
as the complications of life,
of a world where injustice is norm.
What is right and wrong in this world,
Who is the ultimate good/bad guy?
Violence consumes, an inferno,
Disintegrating the self to a cinder,
And all that is left are the ashes,
The memories of what was,
What is, what will be,
And the collateral left behind,
Forgotten to the tides of time.