To be forever awash in opportunity
and ever vacant in appreciation
To plunder resources in dire impunity
puerile disregard for affectation

Warlord hoarding and abject back-turning
blind eyes see starvation abound
Absent phalanx and stink of witch-burning
bloated stockpiles never found

Soulless reverence preaches the bulwark
servile obedience to hasten glory
Irrelevant platitudes cast in dark
magic revivals and rewritten history

Foraging on into imagined victory
sleight of mind begets regret
Smoldering corpse of helpless quarry
an unarmed boy - no longer a threat

Pictures carry the power of a hammer
but strke no chord to numbed eyes
Gratitude to the killers we clamor
in their struggles we invest our lives

Trembling fingers prod at barren page
once, a peace was written there
Clever editing and nihilistic rage
introduce the text to plowshare

Cry havoc, and each heart to the last
smote the other in fervent impunity
Warrant the watch and savagery passed
Hatred and fear in reckless unity

Red rivers of doubt channel the land
marked respites - flags of hope faded
Powerless leaders eschew outstreched hand
bloodlust quenched but never sated

Pondering thus when the horizon is gray
smoke-colored sun rises to laud
Conquering despots gathered in sway
holding forever the throat of the crowd

When there is no "them" to be eradicated
purposed agression returned to shelf
Utopian phallacy viciously created
will you then turn the blade on your self?

Copyright: Brian Pellerino 2005