Pharisee Eyes

Is it a blessing or a curse?
I may incline myself:
to look out through Pharisee eyes,
to see the world
like the bad guys do, to see
their point of view,
to understand why evil does as it does:
I walk a step or two
in their shoes, all I will allow myself,
but I can see their point.
Like I said, I don’t walk
the full mile, even, for I am afraid —
I desire not that I embrace
that way of looking at things.
Yes, o evil ones, I see why,
but I must (even if I must force it)
see things differently.
You may have a point, but
in the final analysis, that pointing
directs nowhere; there, I admit,
but for the grace of God
go I, that I could mayhap
have held that view of things,
but however I can choose,
even when I am inundated by the brunt
of the reasoning of sin, I must
grope my way after saints,
fumble my way to salvation — and
seeing through those wayward eyes,
perhaps I may yet learn
to love my enemies,
my darkest foes: for I understand
just a little of what you are,
just enough to know
that you have feelings, too.