Copyright © 2009 Ernest Bloom.
The flames
The angry, purifying flames leap high and wipe out
All traces of shame and disdain
Let the flames come
Let them come
Everything that matters
Has been mowed down, leaving us
Nothing but backbiting and sniveling
Supercilious in throat-cutting
Of more friends than foes
I yearn for vengeful, screaming eagles
Or stalwart, grim Greek heroes to
Spill down wauling upon our pitiable ranks
And weed out the profligate immorals -- rarified fools!
All discipline and perseverance has been stripped
For love of coins and acedia
Bring on the flames and burn up these plains
All the way from Atlanta to the sea
Clouds on fire from the setting sun
A world foreordained in fire
The mad firepower breaking on the breastworks
Let our men find their motivation
Let us live like men again
The flames
The angry, purifying flames leap high
Let them come
Not bad diction, very profound, elevated and catchy. A good example of American poetry with all the 'guilt and disdain' peculiar to the schizofrenic history of your nation (though I'm no expert so stop me if I tell a blunder). I detect almost a little Puritan echo, the fervency and the drive to power and achievement mixed with the guilt and the disgust of the immoral heathens. It's fitting that you presented those flames as both angry and purifying for of course the way to salvation leads through hard work and sacrifice. But really, Mr Bloom, shame on you twice for leaving us poor Europeans to the mercy of the dark age just because we happen to be way over the sea. Unless, of course, the mystic sea is, say, the Red Sea, in which case I might be willing to provide absolution.
ReplyDeletevery clearly i had in mind a modern-day john brown confronting the falsities we face, but now i'm giving away some of the postings i anticipate uploading in days to come. . . .
ReplyDeleteamericans would counter that twice now (and more!) they've come back across the pond to rescue europeans from their follies when the what's-in-it-for-us angle wasn't always so obvious (speaking from the pov of those at the time; hindsight changes everything). in truth for the most part americans are fond of europe and are even willing to give russia a fair shake. but no longer france. americans believe they risked quite a bit in saving the pompous cowards of france in wwii, and next time germany or anyone else overruns them in a massive empire-building scheme, france should expect to be the last nation liberated by the allies.
but you are probably talking wrt what americans think of as the cold war. i could talk at great length abt that and grievances on your (collective) part, but i won't. i'll just leave you w observations from "Colonel William Prescott Between the. . . ." -- war, and all life, is a matter of calculations. say rightly or wrongly that we were pondering the numbers across different scales of magnitude. and always try to think of the internet as a universal democracy machine, although alas it's seldom used for that. . . .but again, i'm stepping all over my next posting...............