Edward Ahern, Crosswind Passage

Unloved things — weeds and warts,
Dry rot and wet rot and wall mold,
Rats and lice and cockroaches
Halitosis and cancer and herpes
Are with us despite every effort.

But our most pernicious consort,
born of fear, reared in animosity,
is hatred — of others, of change,
hate that proverbs and strictures
fumble helplessly against.

Many-splendored hate is of all sides:
radical/reactionary, Godless/Godfearing,
free-loving/abstinent, sharing/selfish.
It flourishes despite agonized exterminators,
an eye we refuse to pluck out.