Why Do Good Samaritans Sometimes Have to Die?

Two men recently died from a clash

On a Portland light-rail train.

The two men lost their precious lives

For reasons so insane.

Someone, angry, confused, and deranged,

Entered the car and began

Assaulting two women verbally.

Obviously, the man

Was more than just a pesky nuisance,

For three passengers tried

To intervene because the rantings

And ravings wouldn't subside.

The white supremacist, Islamophobic

Madman yelled in a fury

That Muslims should die. The line between

Safety and danger was blurry.

The three heroes became the target

Of the reprobate.

He stabbed all three, but two of them died:

Victims of cruel hate.

One man was a former vet

And loving father of four;

The other a recent college grad,

Gone forevermore.

Even though we know the answer

We still ask ourselves why

It is that good Samaritans

Sometimes have to die.

(5-31-17) By Bob B