Community Reaction

I read about a person

Who, within a city park,

Attacked a woman and her dog

At 6 a.m. (still dark).

 

He was rooting through the garbage,

Yelling crazily, before

Tossing urine in a bottle,

Then proceeded to do more…

 

With a stick he hit the woman,

Next her dog across the snout,

Which a witness heard and ran to see

What it was all about.

 

When the police came, the attacker

Had already up and fled

But the injuries the dog sustained

Caused him to wind up dead.

 

The assailant was familiar –

He was known and clearly ill,

Yet community reaction

Is divided, voices shrill.

 

Some say find him and arrest him!

He’s a danger – he needs jail!

Others think he won’t get help

With the police hot on his trail.

 

Though it’s sad when mental illness

Can’t keep violence at bay,

This man’s demons should require

He gets treatment – far away!