Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Even Pinocchio Knew His Maker

The puppets mock the puppeteers
not noticing their strings
They dance and hop and raise their voice to sing...
All they know are peers
of wood and wire
of paint and polish
of termite hollowed ash
of ventriloqu’d voices
and mimicked choices
that with their pride does clash.

“We are the kings
We hold the strings!”
They obediently say
not knowing who in the air
above holds fatal sway.

Don’t you see the enemy?
He wishes you to dance
your time away until you say
it was nothing but mere chance.

Don’t you see the enemy?
He wishes you to hide
him behind a myth or blind
tradition that you deride.

And what if sin and evil
are more than dated words?
What if they hold meaning
more than the absurd
notion of a god that acts like a child—
notion of a god that is anything but mild—
For what does this race earn
if not cruel death
by turning on itself and ignoring the rest?

We rape and burn and pillage
We steal and break and kill
A child takes a village
But one father has no will

We sow our own destruction
And arm our future foes
We revel in corruption
To what end? No one knows

And all us so-called-people
Who think ourselves so good
With hubris higher than a steeple
At the wayside we all stood

The spectators are guilty
The watchers did the crime
The reclining ones have blood-stained hands
We all live in the grime

Not one of us is sinless
We all hold equal share
We can make ourselves all kinless
Or admit there’s burdens to bear

When we see that we’re all brothers
And sisters straight from birth
We’ll be halfway to discovering
Our purpose here on earth.

3 comments:

  1. Brilliant work Mark! Love it! favourite part:
    "And what if sin and evil
    are more than dated words?
    What if they hold meaning
    more than the absurd
    notion of a god that acts like a child—
    notion of a god that is anything but mild—"
    Brillllliantttt.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This Poem is everything. I am such a fan!

    ReplyDelete

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