Poem: Down To This

 

Down To This

 

galores of vogues

in kingdoms of thuggish pride,

a trip down fancy boulevards

 

to swill from fancy stores,

hostage to twists  

inside the maneuvers of brutal kings,

 

and the logics of toadeater-senators

who authorized an absurd

and yet now permanent fence.

 

“we don’t learn our lessons,”

the historians piffle,

hamstrung by a zealotry of rage.

 

it has come down to this:

 

the entrails of sacred animals,

eagles, pheasants, lions and hawks,

rummaged for sortilege and symbol and flag,

 

so many grand, trumped-up

prophecies and crusades

for thick stacks of troops

 

layered in roads and crossroads

 and battles and conquests

of bloodlines now buried in dust

 

far below the latest, biggest, richest castles,

taller than any before,

high and haughty above those graves

 

yes, more magnificent and wondrous,

eager for the most beautiful and righteous,

the most perfect and lovely, final war.

=======================================