When I see one face,
I encounter a mandate
too powerful to amend:
"Do not **** the other."

When I see two faces,
the mandate doubles
in demands:
"Do not **** the others."

The mandate goes on and on,
ignoring fear and trepidation,
with each new face I encounter:
"Do not ****, do not **** the others."

The others see me not as a face
but as part of a vile race of opponents.
The mandate discarded, their hearts
become hardened. "Do not ****" soon fades away.

When one no longer sees my face,
another quickly takes his place.
There is no one there for those whom
grace has abandoned.

Soon, one equals three, the mandate
now set free to roam in hidden pastures.
Killing makes the foreign familiar,
the other weak. No demand to stop. No demand to speak.

No ethics, no compassion, no self-control,
no notion of why the face lacks a trace
of freedom. No barrier, no limits to the maddening mob.
Until their face is shoved into my place by mandate.