all hail....

Two tragedies in one day,
lives lost, innocents, civilians,
MH 17 cut down from the sky
by terrorists in the midst
of a Ukrainian combat zone,
Israel and Palestine attack each other
in an unending conflict.

With these incidents preoccupying my mind,
and weighing down my heart,
I saw a production of Macbeth,
a play of predictions come true
through a wash of blood and guts and gore.
A story of long ago and yet a story of today.

We claim to be more civilized,
we have evolved,
We have learned to mediate,
arbitrate, impose sanctions,
but these alternatives are quickly abandoned
when the results do not
satisfy our need for an immediate solution.

We have tossed aside our swords,
only to replace them with more
sophisticated weapons that kill hundreds,
thousands, in a split second,
with a click on a computer keyboard.

There is no peace on earth,
It continues to elude
as we reach for more powerful arms
because we are certain
that violence will beget peace.

All hail Macbeth, he lives amongst us,
yet again.

 

photo by author