A Meditation on Capital Punishment

A Meditation on Capital Punishment

June 11, 2001

I heard it on the news today,
Listen, o listen, to what they say,
The killing of one man, named McVeigh,
Occurred to wash the hurt and pain away.

I wonder Lord how can it be,
That this death can set the families’ free?
Can it make up for the loss that they all share,
Can it correct the wrongs in a world that’s so unfair?

Was it justice that truly the crowd seeks?
Or perhaps it is the nation’s revenge from which this reeks?
In any case I do not know,
Which way my Lord, you would see it go.

If this is right then someone please tell me,
Why it calls to mind my Savior hanging from a tree?
For the sins of all He lived and so He died.
And before our God, through Him we are justified.

I heard them say on the news today,
How “We the people” executed Tim McVeigh.
And I don’t feel like it’s been an ‘eye for an eye.’
I just find myself sitting and asking “Why, Lord, why?”

© A. O’Dowd 6/11/01
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