Blindness, Evil and Greed

 
Blindness, Evil and Greed

“Out of sight is out of mind.”

And this, the rulers know.

So humans can be blasted, burned,

In places far away—

And other species tortured, killed, 

In places out of sight,

So those of us who do not see

Can watch our TV shows

And carry on, as if these things

Were mere imaginings.

 

And there are those, with hardened hearts,

Who find their entertainment

In parties on a hilltop, where

They watch the bombs exploding

Within the city they have cursed

As children burn and die—

A cause for celebration, since

They might “grow up to fight”.

 

So people who are prominent

Quite publicly declare

Support for endless massacres

And even loudly cheer

Destruction, death, and suffering,

Till those they see as “vermin”

That plague the promised land 

Are dead or fled and cleared.

 

So some are blind to evil, while

Some others seek revenge—

Not “an eye for an eye”, but a hundredfold—

Not soldiers fighting others,

But bombs that rain, for months on end,

On those defenseless, trapped—

On children, women, elders, men,

Removing limbs and skin,

And leaving others who survive

To perish, buried deep.

 

So some are blind or seek revenge,

And these are everywhere,

But others simply want to clear

The nuisance that resists—

That stands against their endless greed—

By chance—or act of will.

 

And these are they who start these things

And these are they who steer

The rest, through lies and influence,

Towards more and more of war.

 

So what we see in Gazza—that

Is not an aberration,

But just the latest episode

Within that local roil

Of death and grief and suffering

That never seems to end.

And there are others we forget

Or never even knew of, 

Who suffered through their genocides,

Unseen, unheard—as though

They never had existed.

And some, who visit where they lived,

May find their silent bones,

And linger, for a while, perhaps,

Where once they'd built their homes,

Deserted now—or filled with those

Who came and took their place,

Not knowing or reviling those

Whose crime was mere existence. 

We think these things are far away

In distance or in time,

And see no reason why we should

Be bothered by these troubles. 

Yet all the world is joined and one.

In blindness or in vision,

What happens there will happen here, 

Unless we see and act.

2024  January 25th, Thu.
Berkeley, California