Babylon
When the way is smooth
we trip on nothing
because we're made
to kick things down.
to kick things down.
When the belly's full
the brain cramps,
sells thought
for adrenaline.
Small griefs swell like seeds;
so the vein sprouts the needle,
the mountain's slick slope
shakes its entropy, an avalanche
shakes its entropy, an avalanche
rumbling us down while
the summit recedes.
We forget
when living's too easy,
We forget
when living's too easy,
we make times get hard.
~February 2014. revised November 2016
an old one revised, for Fireblossom Friday
Top: Aerial View of Capitol Hill, Public Domain via wikimedia commons
Footer: Ruins of central Amarna, Egypt, the little temple of the Aton(Amarna Bâtiment du centre ville, zone du petit temple d'Aton)by Kurohito
Shared under a Creative Commons License via wikimedai commons
That last stanza could not be more true. Wonderfully done, Hedge!
ReplyDeleteThose last three lines are especially hard-hitting, Hedge.
ReplyDeleteOh, how right you are. Trump's success soared on the media's (including social media's) fascination with his drama. And now the drama of our president elect feeds so many, but of course it's the worst junk food, will not nourish. The history of the past 100 years is one of people buying what they've been hoodwinked into believing they need or want, to the point where many don't even know their true needs and wants anymore. I'm reading a great but devastating book by William Leach called "Land of Desire" about the rise of our consumer culture way of life. It didn't just kind of evolve. People made it happen on purpose, and it happened fast, within just a few decades. Change of the worst kind can indeed happen fast. Brace yourself.
ReplyDeleteWell-delivered truth that kicks you in the teeth.
ReplyDeleteHard is here, and the fact that it's also absurd doesn't really help at all. Thanks for taking part in my challenge, dear BFF. It could never be the same without you being part of it.
ReplyDeleteusually on this day I write of my personal tragedy 19 years ago today.
ReplyDeleteI find her voice not so much silent, as drowned out.
We forget, don't we? Stupid apes, are we. ~
today being Remembrance Day, let us take time to remember our history, our past, our book of things-not-to-do-again....
ReplyDeleteThat is such an apt title and I think the following lines are so effective:
ReplyDelete'Small griefs swell like seeds;
so the vein sprouts the needle'
Great last lines:
'We forget
when living's too easy,
we make times get hard.'
Magnified petulance crossed by permission to outroar creates this shake 'n' rattle in babaloneyia. The time of American ISIS is come, not for any real enough reason but the times cannot demand it. Well, here we go. Maybe the hammer will get us faster to realizing how false the roots are. Maybe.
ReplyDeleteOh, that ending hits hard. I often wonder if there is any waking up from the nightmare we live in. Hope keeps whispering, but my own angst doesn't listen. Great writing!
ReplyDeleteHistory has shown, we'll remember when it's too late
ReplyDelete