And in one universe of space and time
Limited by space and time
Though haply interpenetrated with transcendence
What a waste is conflict and how unnecessary
When we lash out like tigers
Or slow burn like leaching acid
Anger directed inward or out
Or fall upon the sword of self-slaughter
When we can work out our differences
With our neighbors and with ourselves
Can
The ugly battlements of unreasoning fear
The nauseous intoxication of attack
The mystic bloody rituals of vengeance
Loving spouses hissing hurtful words
A drunken dispute among friends erupting in gunfire
A teenager poisoned by images to take their own life
Talking to you Zuckerberg
Warfare against both other and self
That shows that as we respect others we should respect ourselves
And not be talked into self-harm self-contempt
Or the bloody disproportion of retaliation
In adoration of the algorithm
In adoration of the volk
In adoration of the habit
In adoration of the dollar
In adoration of power
In adoration of the leader
Nor raise our fist in anger nor in compliance to foul command
Blackjack and truncheon
Lance and pike
Dagger and gladius
Halberd and partizan
Cannon mortar and howitzer
Long and short guns the automatic and the semi-automatic
Battleship destroyer nuclear submarine ballistic missile and intelligent drone
Aeroplane and zeppelin
Fortification and catapult
Reconnaissance intelligence and disposition
The firing squad for espionage or desertion
The heartless post the hostile incursion
Surgery dressing and prosthesis cobbling together the broken body
Reconstruction and torturous rehabilitation
Veterans of war trembling limbless faceless
Displaced persons dazed and mechanical
Reliving the trauma long after the fact
The corpse of a child recovered from the rubble
See ye heedless governors and die of shame