Cruel and unusual, delusional
thinking there is a painless way to murder
Where are we taught ethics if not in church?
Where are we taught evil if not in church?

The ministers were Harvard-educated, meaning pedestal-raised, meaning
infallible. In the third lecture, they learned that distance and holiness are
two of the same. Murder is just;
 if             how        when
but never us 

They learn that the intricacies of a word start with Harvard
end with privilege
hear everyone defend it as
divine

Five years later
after his two daughters died
Sewall became the only judge to apologize for the trials

Three hundred and twenty-seven years later:
after voting for the “Heartbeat Bill”
Congressman Neal Collins learned that a woman,
forced to carry a non-viable fetus to term,
may die

he didn’t  sleep for a week
once he understood that legislation has consequences

In his grief, Sewall called his suffering
a sign from God

the women called it
too late.

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