15 November 2024 — in memory of W.B. Yeats

The fascist thermals rising once again
elevate the eagle on a vulture’s quest:
shred our legacies and serve the carcass
of democracy for scavengers’ breakfast;
loose the killers, give them tools
to execute your bidding on the innocent;
none with better judgement dare protest
while thugs tumesce with lust for dominance.

Surely a greater crash is coming;
surely the nuclear codes will come to hand.
A final war! The end of human plunder
may come soon enough to save the other life
with whom we share this small polluted sphere.
Bring it on! What we called civilization
was from the outset doomed, creating horrors
beyond imagination from our good intent;
building virtual cities to lodge monsters.

We thought a better world was in our grasp;
but every century the beast returns
to lift its disciples in its bloody jaws
and set them on the universe again.
If only this time could be the last.