POLITICAL Poem: The Perpetual Cycle of Lunacy, by G.

I see the past in the present
Your face stands out so clearly
Vividly
Dark complexion, a chiaroscuro against so many white
I see you
Your family
Happy
The beach
A refuge for so many
Cares
Worries
Disappear
The wind picks up
The roar of the sea grows louder
Azure sky replaced by the grey, blue, and pink of impending twilight
You sweep your daughter into your arms
Your son runs after his mother
This human act
Replicated throughout the world
Throughout time
Culture
Language
Race
Religion
Makes no difference
We yearn for the same things

Yet hate
Taught
Perpetuated
Replicated throughout the world
Throughout time
Learned ignorance
Convincing the masses that differences should scare us
Culture
Language
Race
Religion
Manipulating us
Fright obscuring reason
Unleashing our animalistic nature
Anger
Fear
Hate
Powerful motivators
Wielded by rulers to control the ruled
To inspire violence
To maintain power
To profit
Strawmen change
Tactics endure
Dividing and conquering the exploited
Isolated
Solidarity gone
How powerless groups become
One by one
Realization
Always too little
Always late

You leave
I stay
Thinking
Lessons forgotten
Lessons ignored
The muted cries of the past fall on willfully deaf ears
Red hats
Red armbands

Anger
Fear
Hate
A perpetual battlecry woven into the fabric
Authentically unoriginal
Yet it works
The same old tricks
The exploiter eternally convincing
The exploited eternally naive
Manufacturing consent
To eradicate neighbors
Profit over people
Hate over reason
Fool me once
Shame on me
Fool me for eternity
Shame on thee

Yet indifference
Enduring
Time after time
Shame
A sensation no longer felt
Payout
Always too great
Consequences
Yet again
Arriving late
Lie and cheat
Steal and kill
Business as usual
Unless it happens to you
Manipulation
Your weapon of choice
Cold

Conniving
Coordinated
But you know the secret
Fools are ever so trusting
How truly easy it is to train the ignorant
The uninformed
The shallow of soul
Morals forgotten
Ignored
Replaced
Pavlov’s dog
Feasting on lies
While piercing rings
Toll on
And on

Conditioned
Salivating
Rabid
An empty vessel to be commanded
Used and discarded
After the violence
Empathy
Our spark of life
Smothered into silence
Eyes seeing, yet the mind not truly grasping
A husk of a human
Yapping for its master
Blame
Excuses
It makes no difference now
A song on repeat
Another generation lost
Innumerable and forgotten
Tale as old as time
Continues
Marching
On
And on

Strong gusts
Dark clouds
Tide turns
Water churns
Flash
Crack
The Thud
Thud
Of rain upon sand
Beats on
And on
Your footprints fade
Another memory of this world
Lost
Forgotten
Will you survive what is to come?
Will I?
The end is written
For those who look
Tear out the page
Change the book