when angels fall
do we understand one's inhumanity to another, because of race, religion or beliefs?
photo by Comfreak at pixabay
when angels fall
If the rain that fall
are the tears of heaven
then it falls on the grasses
in the ravine at Babi Yar
on the ashes and bones that are
the herded naked
men women children
to the abattoir
and it falls on the barbed wires
and light towers at Auschwitz
on the pleas and screams
from locked chambers
the choking and
the gassed
and it splatters
on the blood-stained walls
at Tuol Sleng
screams in the corridors
as fingernails are pulled out
then the abused bodies hung on walls
where now row upon rows of
portraits of the dead stare back
their dead eyes
dead
mournful
and the rain
it is falling
on the hobnail boots of the demons
that are trampling on
the corpses of the angels...
21/04/2018
**********
"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever."
-George Orwell
© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2020
when angels fall
If the rain that fall
are the tears of heaven
then it falls on the grasses
in the ravine at Babi Yar
on the ashes and bones that are
the herded naked
men women children
to the abattoir
and it falls on the barbed wires
and light towers at Auschwitz
on the pleas and screams
from locked chambers
the choking and
the gassed
and it splatters
on the blood-stained walls
at Tuol Sleng
screams in the corridors
as fingernails are pulled out
then the abused bodies hung on walls
where now row upon rows of
portraits of the dead stare back
their dead eyes
dead
mournful
and the rain
it is falling
on the hobnail boots of the demons
that are trampling on
the corpses of the angels...
21/04/2018
**********
"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever."
-George Orwell
© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2020
posted by dsnake1 at 10:57 PM
21 Comments:
Your poem takes me to the most difficult parts of Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle... and, of course, to the real stories that inspire such a tale. There is so much inhumanity in this so called human world. So much that I am almost sure too many angels are drowning in the filthy bathwater of demons.
So incredibly well composed. "...trampling on the corpses of the angels" - you have put words to exactly what I feel. It is impossible to understand, and a great deep sorrow, the way some humans treat others - the way there have always been these humans that will do so. Are we helpless to change our species? You have captured the bewilderment of the compassionate kind perfectly.
Harrowing but vital words.
An incredible write!
Such crime and acts of brutality leave me speechless :( what has the world come to?
For an advanced animal species we seem to fail learning from our mistakes considering hate, profit or stupidity the reason for ignoring the dangers in the world. You have written quite a telling piece of our past failings...perhaps one day we will learn.
Magaly,
thank you for the comment.
I have not read 'The Man in the High Castle'. I should look for a copy of this alternate history.
"the filthy bathwater of demons". perhaps there's already too much of it flowing around. :(
H,
yes, sometimes we do not understand why different races and beliefs cannot co-exist peacefully together.
Anthony,
thank you!
So true.. Tuol Sleng and the killing fields are among the most difficult places to visit - impossible to imagine the extent of human cruelty. And we've learnt, as humans, so little from history- so much happening under the cover of a pandemic as well...
Brilliantly written – and alas, so true that I can find nothing else to say; you've said it all.
Beverly,
thank you.
Sanaa,
Sometimes it's hard to write about such things, this piece has been sitting in my 'unpublished' file for some time. :(
Robin,
hopefully we will learn. nationalism started many purges down this slippery slope.
Thotpurge,
i don't think i can bring myself to visit that museum if i go to Cambodia.
Rosemary,
😁
Well said and very necessary. You have a way with words.
Heart wrenching
The Ornery Old Lady,
😃
Thank you for the visit to my blog.
magiceye,
thank you, my friend.
This hits me in the heart. I will never understand such cruelty. You have written a moving poem about the horror.
I am not sure what to say about this -- I had such a visceral and emotional reaction. Indeed, people can be so cruel to each other.
ooh this is melancholy at its best but yeah, i can feel the sadness and horror within it. great write you know?
Susie,
we will never understand such cruelty. it is not a modern thing, it happens in the past too, and still happening as 'ethnic cleansing'.
Revived Writer,
perhaps that's why humans are the dominant species.
Thank you so much, Jamztoma! 😃
This one got me, brother. Beautiful, painful and so, so human at the same time. Thanks.
Thank you so much, Mario. :)
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