03 September 2013

The Eternal Peace Activist

Borrowed (filched, if you will) from Harry's Place. The poem is written by Kevin Higgins. Oh, and I wholeheartedly approve his message, if you want to ask - not that you do.

The Eternal Peace Activist

after Donovan and Pete Seeger 


When the child soldiers came to our village,
I offered them green, red, yellow
lollipops.

I didn’t throw grenades at black limousines
carrying Nazi leaders
through Czechoslovakia.

I spent the morning
of the St. Bartholomew’s Day
massacre, trying to organise
a group hug.

During the Sack of Constantinople
I was busy writing
a strongly worded statement
against the blood that ran
in the gutters like rain.

Each night I pray
they’ll leave it to the United Nations,
Arab League, Warsaw Pact to sort
out amongst themselves.

I asked Genghis Khan
where all the flowers had gone?;
told Chemical Ali about the universal
soldier who, unlike me, really is to blame.

When you showed me room after room
of your relatives’ carefully stacked skulls,
I said: the internal affairs
of Democratic Kampuchea
are not my business.

Even if one of those heads
was mine, I’d not lift
a fingernail to keep it attached
to its owner, think the peace talks in Paris
must be given another chance.

When a four foot boy clad in black
bomber jacket shoved a lit kerosene rag,
through my neighbour’s letterbox,
I didn’t take the easy way out
and familiarize his cranium
with the pavement.

Now, he’s six foot eight
and has a gang who go around with him.

KEVIN HIGGINS

8 comments:

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Neat poem. But our government is always talking about war with somebody. It gets old after a while.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

I hope you are not becoming an isolationist. This is a... but I have said it all at that long post.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

I don't think he is nor I. Snoop, we are a nation of warriors (it may not seem that in the media), but even we get tired of our bravery and lives being sold for cheap political purposes by OUR politicians. I can't speak for Stanley (though I suspect he's the same) I believe the time is coming that very serious military is going to be needed and I'll support it if gets the necessary job done ( hear that Iran, Syria, etc)

SnoopyTheGoon said...

I do hope you are right, Sennacherib. What bother me is that I see less and less of that fighting spirit in the West. Which may very well spell the end of the Western civilization as we know it. Hope I am wrong, otherwise it's all Code Pink till the end.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

What you see is the media. We've been consistently misunderestimated (thanks George) through out history. Our big fault is tending to show up a little late. You guys are the canaries in the coal mine, very well armed canaries, but canaries none the less. That's why I worry about you guys.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Nah, we'll be OK. No two-bit tyrant with quasi-Hitler's mustache is going to spoil out lunch. And he knows it too well. Or should know. Or will know.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Not an isolationist, in the sense you mean. But damn tired of being taxed to do the work for the French, the Germans, the Japanese, etc., etc. Let them get off their bums for a change.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

I understand the feeling. Yes, Europe got too used to sit on their collective fat arses under US protection, not even saying thanks and saving a lot of money on military expenses. But that feeling hardly helps in the end of the day. And besides, it is less about Europe and more about US standing in this world.