Tuesday, October 31, 2006

A dark poem at the end of a dark month


Graveyard
Originally uploaded by paynehollow.

My pastor related to me recently how a friend of the family was one of the over-100 US children killed in Iraq this month. Not to mention the hundreds of Iraqis killed there.

One would think that we might realize that, as Thomas Jefferson said, "War is an instrument entirely inefficient toward redressing wrong; and multiplies, instead of indemnifying losses."

In horror of the bloodshed going on in my name, I will repeat a poem that I posted during my first month of blogging.

======

Shame on your god
Your arm-breaker
Your life-taker
Your freemarket witch
Your sonofabitch
god
Damn your god!
Who preaches war
That corporate whore
That distorts scripture
So the rich can get richer
On the backs of the poor
Taking more and more and more...

Shame on your god
Your upside down
Vulgar, hideous clown
Your backwards, inside-out
Bloodthirsty boyscout
god
And shame on you

We had a perfectly good God
Prince of Peace
Making a feast
For ALL God's children
Black, white, straight, gay
Preparing the Way
Good God! We had a Good God

And you killed him

You religious,
You white washed tombs,
You serpents,
You blind guides,
You gnat-straining, camel-swallowing, hellspawn-making
Blind Fools

Shame on you
And shame on your god.
======

And shame on us all - to the degree that we worship at this god's feet.

6 comments:

Wasp Jerky said...

As long as we're blogging poems, here's James McMurtry's "God Bless America":

Look yonder comin', mercy me
Three wise men in a SUV
Corporate logo on the side
Air-conditioned quiet ride

That thing don't run on french fry grease
That thing don't run on love and peace
Takes gasoline make that thing go
Now bring your hands up nice and slow

Take us to the land of milk and honey
Sing and dance all night long
Whatcha gonna do with all that money
Whatcha gonna do when that money's all gone

Negotiation's just no fun
And it don't serve our interests none
Gonna turn up the heat till it comes to a boil
So we can go get that Arab oil

And we'll suck it all up through the barrel of a gun
Everyday's the end of days for some
Republicans don't cut and run
Tell me ain't you proud of what we've done

Take us to the land of milk and honey
Sing and dance all night long
Whatcha gonna do with all that money
Whatcha gonna do when that money's all gone

You keep talking that shit like I never heard
Hush, little President, don't say a word
When the rapture comes and the angels sing
God's gonna buy you a diamond ring

Take us to the land of milk and honey
Sing and dance all night long
Whatcha gonna do with all that money
Whatcha gonna do when that money's all gone

Dan Trabue said...

Good stuff. Is this a song, too? (it has that sort of feel.)

Wasp Jerky said...

It is indeed a song.

lené said...

Dan, I am so sorry to hear about the loss of your young friend.

Anonymous said...

Wow. I don't have much to say. However, I think belief in war and a belief in a free market come from different places. You will find that most of those truly committed to a free market (Republicans don't count many times) oppose the war. Glen Dean being an exception. Republicans in many case pervert the principles of a free market.

Dan Trabue said...

Thank you, Lene. My pastor brought his family up for prayer again this weekend.

His name was Daniel and his family and friends grieve his loss.

Chance, I agree that in theory, Libertarians ought not support this sort of warring. I don't believe pre-emptive warring to be within conservative or libertarian doctrine.

Unfortunately, those "conservatives" who have been elected are not in agreement with you. May a more sensible Conservative tribe increase.