David and Goliath

His laugh erupts and clouds the air like ash,
Then falls and suffocates all in its path,
He is the daunting fear that kills all hope,
Then crushes all the hopeless who can't cope.
Upon the battlefield, he is the tower
Who stands above all those who shrink and cower,
He mocks the Living God of Abraham,
He is the butcher; Israel, the lamb.
He buries those beneath his molten hate,
Then laughs, insults, and mocks to celebrate,
And all who foolishly step in his path,
Succumb to him and entertain his wrath.
So who will step before this loathsome beast
To fight with God for those who are the least?

The veterans of bloody battles stand
(Their hearts and bodies like surrendered land),
In servitude before the war is fought,
Their useless sacrifice their only thought.
If no one makes a move to fight the beast,
Before the battle starts, the fight has ceased,
But one of Jesse's line steps up to fight,
A boy who tends to sheep both day and night.
A sling against a sword, a spear, and shield
Upon both earth and heaven's battlefield,
"I come to you for Whom you now defy,"
He is the mighty Living God's reply
Who swings and hurls the stone to where it's bound,
Then drops the loathsome beast upon the ground.

Rich Tassinari 8/21/13