25/8/09: “Rituals”

So a child will ask:
what is a weapon?
And he learns
that a weapon is a stone
or fist in any form
or a gun and its trigger
whether it hooks to a thorn.
A rose has more thorns than petals, he knows.

So a man will wonder:
what is the worst weapon of all?
And he observes
missiles, pens, planes, bacteria,
fire frenzy ash destruction,
the lens of a camera,
the bottom line,
the dotted line,
the barbed wire fence.
A bomb has more forms than flames, he knows.

So an old man will know:
man himself is the weapon.
He has grown to see his friends
live and die,
the vapour trail sizzle in the sky,
and observe -
man flies the jet,
man signs the plan,
man picks the target,
and the catastrophe left
is evidence.
So it was they laid blame on
God and Country,
but cast them off for peace and sanity.
A man has more excuses than sins,
he knows.

Filed under: poetry