Current Affairs

[~Sophia~]

Current Affairs

How many killing fields will we sow before
we’re held accountable for the feast?

Speaking in tongues we defend our collective
amens, finger the mirror and pretend
we don’t read brail.

But if humanity withers by slight of hand,
and hate is ordained in the heart of man

while the earth shudders with rockets red glare
and Grace forsakes our children in prayer

will we be missed by anyone?

[PrinceMyshkin]

Current Affairs

How many killing fields will we sow before
we’re held accountable for the feast?

Speaking in tongues we defend our collective
amens, finger the mirror and pretend
we don’t read brail.

But if humanity withers by slight of hand,
and hate is ordained in the heart of man

while the earth shudders with rockets red glare
and Grace forsakes our children in prayer

will we be missed by anyone?
This reminds me so poignantly of the famous words by Pastor Martin Niemöller during or after WWII:


In Germany they first came for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me —
and by that time no one was left to speak up.

[~Sophia~]

Hi Prince. I think the Pastor's poem is certainly bolder, and infinitely better.

[Joy Kirt]

THE WAR IS NOT OVER YET


Everything is burning.
Everyone is on fire.
The hearts are numb with pain
Eyes don?t cry.
To kill or to be killed is the fate
The master plan so they say.
Who is the master and what?s the plan
Am I in it or out of it I wish I knew.
We had reached the destination,
The promised land
The end of the long bloody trudge
And yet the fires still rage on
Anger feeding on hunger
And hunger feeding on desperation
Vacant, listless souls wander in and out all around
With no where to go and no one to await

[~Sophia~]

Hello Joy. Thanks for leaving your impassioned poem here. I see you are even newer to the site than I am so, welcome.

[Silas Thorne]

Current Affairs

How many killing fields will we sow before
we’re held accountable for the feast?

Speaking in tongues we defend our collective
amens, finger the mirror and pretend
we don’t read brail.

But if humanity withers by slight of hand,
and hate is ordained in the heart of man

while the earth shudders with rockets red glare
and Grace forsakes our children in prayer

will we be missed by anyone?

I really like this direct and sharply cutting commentary 'Current Affairs' . I love the first two stanzas, the mirror/ braille image, and the feast of murder, cannibalistic overtones of the first stanza, great!
I also like the play on 'slight of hand'. Really good stuff!

I'm just not too sure about 'rockets red glare'. Does a 'red glare' make the earth shudder? And do you need more than one to make the earth shudder? I mean, would one be enough as a symbol of all?

Just throwing my thoughts out there, Sophia. I'm still weighing up your ideas in the PM you sent me on my poem.

[PrinceMyshkin]

I really like this direct and sharply cutting commentary 'Current Affairs' . I love the first two stanzas, the mirror/ braille image, and the feast of murder, cannibalistic overtones of the first stanza, great!
I also like the play on 'slight of hand'. Really good stuff!

I'm just not too sure about 'rockets red glare'. Does a 'red glare' make the earth shudder? And do you need more than one to make the earth shudder? I mean, would one be enough as a symbol of all?

Just throwing my thoughts out there, Sophia. I'm still weighing up your ideas in the PM you sent me on my poem.

Not to pre-empt Sophia's reply but to illustrate that those of us who live cheek by jowl with the USA recognize the "rockets red glare" as probably intended, it's a phrase from the US National Anthem, appropriate in that they are currently at war in two countries.

[Silas Thorne]

Oh yes, that didn't come to mind at the time I read it. :redface:

[~Sophia~]

I'm just not too sure about 'rockets red glare'.

Thanks Prince, yes you are right. I was referring to the line from the American National Anthem "and the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air"

on the other hand Silas, in retrospect, I think you are right. A poem like this should be more universal. America is not the only country at war and someone in Zimbabwe might not be able to make sense of that line either.

I think in a re-write I will make it less "American" and more global.

Thanks to both!

[blazeofglory]

[QUOTE=~Sophia~;680090]Current Affairs

How many killing fields will we sow before
we’re held accountable for the feast?

Speaking in tongues we defend our collective
amens, finger the mirror and pretend
we don’t read brail.

But if humanity withers by slight of hand,
and hate is ordained in the heart of man

while the earth shudders with rockets red glare
and Grace forsakes our children in prayer

will we be missed by anyone?[/QUOTE
Such a marvellous piece and the beauty of it is unquestionable. It is so rich and speaks about the goings-on today very profoundly and tellingly.

[~Sophia~]

Thanks Blaze. That was very nice of you to say. I'm pleased you enjoyed it!