To the law abiding, the world is a peaceful garden, even though we all know predators and evil live with us side by side. The Colorado movie massacre reminds us again, as if we needed reminding, that predators stalk the land, killing the innocent, without remorse, and often without reason except for the evil that lives within them. But predators come in two piece suits as well, predators who seek power and money, and get it by convincing you that they are fighting for fairness, for the little guy, when all the while their only concern is for more power to tell you what to do, and when to do it. The predator in Gucci shoes and a two piece suit lurks in the shadows, the better to convince you he isn’t there. I once, as a child, came upon a black snake slowly coming up behind an immobile toad. When the flicking tongue touched the back of the toad, the hinged mouth opened wide and closed over the toad, slow motion contractions pulling the toad further and further into the snake’s mouth. The toad could easily have escaped approaching death, but at no time did it attempt to do so. I could have saved the toad at any time, but I was as hypnotized as the toad, such was the power of the snake. And such is the power of the predator, prowling the peaceful garden

 

Amid the lush and verdant green

In deepest dark or brightest day

Where predators are never seen

And never noticed are their prey

The law means only to these thugs

That power to them smoothly flows

And like the predatory bugs

They thrive in places no one knows

‘Twas always thus, the cynic smiles

There’s nothing new here, move along

Pretend the predator’s slick wiles

Are right and good, and can’t be wrong

The law abiding’s world, they know

Is surface tension, nothing more

And see not that deep down below

The predator has declared war

The garden teems with deadly force

With lives extinguished every breath

But all unseen, because of course

The garden hides the sight of death