I finally realise
(I can be very slow) –
of course they are killing the children!
It’s a genocide (we all know that)
so of course they are ending
the next generation
before it starts.
Before it gets a grip.
They are bombing the hospitals,
destroying maternity wards –
the new babies, the mothers
about to give birth.
I thought they were – blindly – creating
a new generation of terrorists (war
begets war). But no,
not so blind after all.
They are busy eradicating
the whole future
of a whole people.
Contemplating this,
seeing more clearly
than I ever allowed myself:
I too have lost my breath.
Words have not been enough.
Decades of words,
a century of words
failed to save the earth
from effects of human greed.
How can I hope that words
might prevent the slaughter of children?
But words are all I have …
I contemplate changing 'they' to 'we'. Have we not been complicit?
Note:
In 1896, a seminal paper by Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius first predicted that changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels could substantially alter the surface temperature through the greenhouse effect.
I grapple with the same thoughts. What can we do?
ReplyDeleteI don't know! I hesitate even to share this further for fear of it being inflammatory. And yet, not to speak up must be a dereliction of duty? I suppose, on reflection, we must do what we can, what is given to us to do – and, for whatever it's worth, we are poets.
DeleteI suppose, just be kind where one can. the bigger world is doing what it is. control what you can control.
ReplyDeleteYou're absolutely right, of course. Indeed, it is what I usually tell myself, and attempt to live. But sometimes one needs to scream.
Delete