that comfort can bring
smile a drunken smile
while the canary screams
is being tightly wound,
but we’re too distracted
to hear its clicking sound
until their blisters burn,
the springs are wound taunt
almost to the point of no return
bad as they say!”
“There’s no way something
like this couldn’t happen today!”
countless generations
while the forces of evil
dismantled their nations
all they need, time
each step they take,
their confidence climbs
silences survivor’s warnings
of Auschwitz, Omarska,
and Rwandan mourning
clogs social media feeds,
divisive spins splashed
across television screens
in recycled reflections
of wounded souls,
met with too few objections
the deeper we sink
the more we learn,
the less we think
must cause the awakened to sigh,
and ponder the age-old riddle
of one question...Why?
About The Poem
These are disconcerting and disorienting times. Never in my life have I felt so strongly that the world stage is being set for the horrors of the past to repeat themselves. It’s possible that this is a false feeling, a sort of skewed reality that snuck upon me through the fogged and crotchety lens of middle age, I hope so.
My wife and I live near the State Capital building in St. Paul, Minnesota and last weekend my confidence that people are paying attention was renewed by the enormous amount of people who attended the Women’s March.
Still, family members are arguing, lifelong friends are de-friending one another on social media. I never thought I’d feel nostalgic for the days when people posted pictures of their food on Facebook but I do.
The divisiveness I see in America (and in the world) today chills me to the bone. The lack of a middle road should serve to everyone as a warning that we must very quickly change our course. I can’t help but wonder if we as common people could do more, if we should do more. They say the pen is mightier than the sword so that makes writers supremely powerful in turbulent times such as these.
If you experience something that causes the warning bells in your head to go off, if you witness injustice...pay attention...take action...speak out! These chilling feelings, these warning bells are your soul speaking to you and our world would be such a better place if people listened to its beautiful voice.
Good night all. May we all, somehow, find our way back to middle of the road.
Your Upvotes, Comments, and Resteems are always appreciated!
*I am an American novelist, poet, traveler, and Blockchain enthusiast. If you’ve enjoyed my poetry, autographed copies of my handmade poetry chapbooks, Emancipation, and The Greatest of Secrets are for sale on Peerhub for a limited time.
It is in the quiet spaces that the voices of our souls can be heard the loudest.
Yes, indeed.
upvoting this great content addition to steemit
Thank you, @doitvoluntarily!
I fear you may be right, my friend... The election of this knuckle-head to highest office in the land, could make him the perfect "patsy" for all the horror on the horizon...
This is exactly what I'm concerned with!
It's getting scary...
This is a poignient reflection on the state of things currently indeed. Humanity has seemed to go astray in similar fashion time and time again and I agree with you that the conditions look eerily similar to those previous times that Ive only read descriptions of in history books.
Wouldn't it be so nice to finally break the cycle?
wow again another great piece! upvote. you are gifted, think may have said that before.
Thank you so much, @soundlegion!
There is a common theme among myths and legends from all over the globe concerning the gods, and how many of them lost their power simply by losing the worship/prayers/faith/belief of the people. The government appears to be very similar to these gods, particularly if there is any truth in the whispers of secret ceremonies and rituals taking place. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, I don't accept such labels, but my spirit tells me there is indeed a correlation here. And the one thing we could do as a people is exactly what was done to the old gods- take their power by removing our faith in them. Not from one party or the other, but the entire corrupted thing. Such a simple idea that unfortunately seems to be a very difficult thing for people to do. Perhaps if they could recognize that State is just as much a religion as Church, they could then recognize the gods that comprise the leadership.
Just some of the thoughts that run through my mind of late :)
Excellent poem, you are truly a wordsmith.
Thank you for your kind words and wisdom, @dreemit. I need to explore more of those myths and legends. Can you recommend any subject matter for future reading? I think blockchain technology will play a major role in shifting power. I hope so anyway.
There was a period of time where I was always reading philosophical pieces, articles, blogs etc. where I came across references to this idea over and over, actually some said the loss of worship and prayer resulted even in their deaths. It's possible that it's a more modern myth, it certainly is referenced often in popular culture dealing with anything supernatural or paranormal, many series I've watched or read in the past decade for example. I'm afraid I wasn't speaking about famous names such as Homer or Iliad if that's how I came across. Messages are deliberately put in literature and film-of course you would know that, as you did the same, though in your case it came from your spirit. In others there's an agenda, something my husband calls "Notice on the people", as long as they tell us, even with fiction, they're exonerated from responsibility. They can say "we told them, it's not our fault they couldn't see it."
Crap, I keep trying to shorten this, but it's a really long subject from the years we spent 'down the rabbit hole'. A time where my husband spent probably twelve hours a day studying texts such as Black's Law, Webster's 1828, Matthew Henry's commentaries etc.,-to learn how the system truly works. Something that started as simply as learning that in law there are nine different definitions for the word 'is' and the word 'must' actually means 'may or may not', a far cry from what we were taught...and there I go again, haha! I'll stop now :)
I do believe your right about blockchain technology. It paves the way for the dreamers and inventors...the creators in this realm. Now that's a future I can get excited about!
In the immortal words of Bob Marley, "They made their world so hard...every day, people are fighting...." In a nutshell this is really what it amounts to I think, unnecessary complication to deceive and take advantage of the masses. I've met people all over the world and the average person just wants to enjoy their life. The decentralizing aspect of blockchain is going to be revolutionary but the establishment won't give up without a fight. I just watched the documentary, "Banking on Bitcoin" (which was fabulous) and the big banks are working to incorporate blockchain tech to drastically reduce their operating cost, however, all of the servers will be centralized and under their control. It's going to be an interesting future for sure! I would go as far as to say that blockchain, along with A.I., will play a major role in the next leap of evolution of our society.
Beautifully done. I think things will get better.
Thanks, @cryptofiend! I truly believe we're headed into an age of enlightenment. Before we get there we need to maneuver a few bumps in the road.
Wow. Great words. I fear that you may be right. These are scary times and I worry as many people do, that things are going to get worse.
Thank you, @cathynsons! On bad days I have that fear but I see glimmers of great hope that, finally, the good of humanity (which is a majority, I think) will rise up and say, "No more carnage." The more I learn about geopolitics the more I see conflicts are always about the money. A necessary first step for the elite is public deception, to get them whipped up in support of their false causes. The elite are, most often, sheltered from the negative effects of their actions, the common people are the ones who suffer. The elite profit tremendously from conflict. People are waking up to this, I believe. Maybe the sh!tstorm of corruption during this last Presidential election here in the U.S. was a wake up call? I hope so anyway. I see this as a great opportunity for people to get involved.
We live in turbulent times indeed.
Here in the U.K. we've just gone through a similar experience though I think, to some extent the USA has surpassed our Brexit - and then some!
Yes, this past seven days has been truly mind-bending to say the least.
Amazing poem!
We are in truly scary times. If people could learn to embrace each other's unique diversities and realize the world is a living, evolving ecosystem not a linear, two dimensional economic graph perhaps we could get somewhere.
Thank you, @amariespeaks! I totally agree with you on all fronts. The common people need to unplug from main stream media and come together in opposition of all of these injustices.