La Plus Ça Change
Anonymous
Volume 39 Issue 7, 8, & 9 | Posted: October 19, 2024
It doesn’t matter what the year was
Because in fact it’s all the same:
Storm the ramparts – smash the cities
Carry on the killing game.
Long ago when Boadicea
Fought the troops who strode her land,
Theirs was not a friendly visit;
They had subjugation planned.
That was just one early land-grab,
There’ve been hundreds more since then;
But the price of war is mounting,
And the cost in slaughtered men.
Has it really made a difference,
Those centuries of bitter strife?
Yes, some borders have been altered;
Some people found a better life.
But in the latest rounds of bombing
Terror strikes with pounding shells;
Decades needed for the clean-up,
Countless trapped in living hells.
Do most people really want this;
Would they rather live in peace?
Do they hope for toleration,
A time when strife will truly cease?
Some just want to love their families,
Admire the view of placid lakes;
But one fierce nonstop resentment
Is all the impetus it takes.
Then what follows: martial build-up
Sabre-rattling – all the rest;
Once again it’s into battle,
Put each country to the test.
Though some people have accepted
Life’s unending warlike state;
Others want to shift direction,
Turn the tide: is it too late?
If we cannot change this pattern,
Blame it on our DNA;
And we’ll all like Boadicea
Fight until our dying day.
June 2021
The suggestion that our DNA is responsible comes from the book Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
Anonymous