FACTIONS

An eye for an eye mantra handed down from elder to youth,
get your boot in first, your stab, your bullet in the gut,
and more hereditary gifts bequeathed, a tooth for a tooth,
content to keep the faith simmering, feet firmly in the rut,

pointing, blaming, defending every sin, mortal to venial.
Factions finding power in war, peace not worth a toss,
division as lucrative as Judas's silver kiss of betrayal,
a river between them and no bridge to cross.