[Newspoetry] Two Obits for the Price of One

[gavroche at gavroche.org]

Two Obits for the Price of One

One was 95.
One was 101.
Only the good die young.

One was a Nazi propagandist.
One was an A-bomb physicist.
Both partly responsible for many deaths.

Neither accepted responsibility.
Try to excuse their actions.
They were just doing their jobs.

Both should be praised
For their genius and contribution
To their respective fields.

But every action
Has consequences.
No man (or woman) is an island.

He (or she) who topples one domino
Must be held accountable
When those next to it fall.

Reifenstahl and Teller
are now dead
but the damage has been done.

-- John Newmark