A simulacrum appears
in fragments like an idea
warped by static and distance
.
and each day a shadow
arrives before the man does
bearing hatred like rusted nails,
with intent to drive malice into
another’s fortitude… But
.
the warrior rallies back strength,
and the nails fall harmlessly in the dust.
For wisdoms discernment deflects hatreds
malignant nature, hatred that breeds in
the dark like mold on a damp stone;
that spreads like sparks
in a dry forest…

But this mans
.
hatred is not a single stone
but a thousand chipped fragments,
each one a mirror of the wounds
that split him open,
wounds that
never vanish,
but have settled
into the soil of his being
where the fragments sprout
new roots of resentment, even
when the original wound is buried
.
In the end, the fragments
are not the hatred itself, but the
proof that hatred once lived in him,
and that his brokenness is still fueled by
bitterness, and the echoes of unforgiveness…
.
© Richard Lloyd Cederberg
8/2026
.
“Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice." Ephesians 4:31
      A NEW RACE of HUMANS