Poetry – Belligerence

Belligerence

Great city walls

Turrets and guardrooms,

Lances, bows

And cauldrons of molten lead;

Kingdoms come

And Kingdoms go;

Cities are built

And then destroyed;

Lands change hands –

Nothing is permanent.

Armies pour forth

To pillage and destroy.

Rape and death

Are dispensed

Without mercy.

It is the tale of history,

The tale of humanity

And I am left wondering why?

How life could be so much easier

For us all,

If not for the senseless

Brutality

Of human nature.

To rule, to take, to hurt,

To terrorise and always seek more.

What a great waste!

What a terrible history!

What a horrific species!

How much better we could have done!

Is there no hope?

Opher – 2.10.2019

All around the world I see human beings putting so much of their wealth and energy into protecting themselves against other human beings.

Why are we so belligerent?

Why do we think that war and violence are ever acceptable?

We do some people think it is better to steal the wealth of others rather than work to make their own?

Just imagine what we could have achieved if we hadn’t wasted so much time, effort, innovation and lives on war.

Poetry – Profits Made

Profits Made

The winds came most horribly

Striking the sun-baked soil

Like a flail.

It set the dried brush burning fiercely.

                Every creature

                                As parched and scorched

                                                As the ground

                                                                They died upon.

The rains never came.

                Rivers dried.

                                Seas warmed.  

                                                Coral bleached.

Desert sands

                No longer crept

                                They rushed.

                                                Ice melted.

                                                                Seas rose.

                                                                                Cities flooded.

People fled.

Torrid air

                Scalded skin

                                Smoke still poured

                                                Profits were made.

Opher -4.4.2021

All the major problems facing us are easily solved. Whether it is war, poverty, coronavirus, overpopulation or global warming. There is a simple solution. We already know the answers.

What holds us back is greed, selfishness and the lust for power and wealth.

What is required is a global perspective, greater equality and cooperation.

Easy.