Res Publica 2005

Let us remember
how outraged we were
when we heard how the Nazis
euthanized
their brain-damaged,
their mentally different.

And then let us remember
Terri's smile
when she saw her mother,
a smile they said
had nothing to do
with what she was seeing,
and consider
what the difference really is.

Let us remember
the outcry some have
about the death by lethal injection,
of the quick and painless way
we treat those we choose to execute.

Then let us consider
the death that Terri will suffer,
buried in woolen blankets
with nothing to drink
with the thirst burning her body,
with the drugs to control
the pain reactions
the nausea,
all the other suffering
that comes from death by starvation
and dehydration,
and ask God to forgive us
when we call this a mercy killing.