We walk across the manicured lawns and through the marbled hallways
Stop to study the writings and paintings and antiquities
collected and curated across the centuries
testament to curiosity and the worship of creation
We pause before works sculpted before Christ, still intact
once buried, now preserved, revered once more
We stand, transfixed – a single tile, Italian
holds us fast
its message, translated, mesmerizes, challenges, comforts
Have hope
a message for today, we carry it with us out into the California sunshine
Where
We check our messages in the courtyard
Another shooting
This one in a newsroom
We sit in silence
No more
KateMcCarrollMoore 
Sadly , Humans are Barbarians—B.C. and A.D. But poets have always given us us hope, from the blind Homer to the lovely McCarroll Moore!