I must say that current events lately have put me in rather pessimistic mood. The continuing bizarre events and announcements from North Korea regarding bombing the White House with a nuclear bomb, the continuing problems in Iraq and the declaration of a Caliphate, the situation in Syria, with decapitations and hundreds of dead daily, the unrelenting and mounting open warfare and increasing instability in Israel between Palestinians and the Jews, the Ukrainian civil war, etc, etc…
No wonder that my poor addled brain gave up trying to come up with some explanation for all this. Some attempt at looking at the past, divining the future and seeing why all this is happening in the here and now, proved fruitless. Like Helen Keller, “I do not want the peace which passeth understanding, I want the understanding which bringeth peace.” A poem was all I could come up with...
Explanation
It’s all because:
There is no grain of truth
From which to grind the flour of concord,
No meal of happiness from which to bake a loaf of peace.
The water’s brackish so the thirst of knowledge won’t be quenched,
The mind athirst shall drink of bile, vinegar and blood,
The soul will sour, the heart will parch.
There is no freedom
From which to mould our dreams,
No images of hope to take delight in.
The food of love is lacking, for the birds are long now silent,
The music of the singing blood hushed long ago.
Spleen is with bitterness replete, brain rots,
And only teeth and nails still function faultlessly,
Ready to slash and bite ideals,
Poised to shred beliefs and gouge out seeds of dreams.
This is so true and so very sad… Mankind seems unable to learn from its past mistakes and each generation has to repeat them. Your poem is poignant and apt.
ReplyDeleteInstead of improving, things seem to be getting worse year after year. If this is what "globalisation" and "democracy" is all about, thanks, but no thanks.
ReplyDeleteYour poem is sad and poignant and aptly reflects the times we live in...
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