History Has a Way of Living Twice Poem, by Steve Unruh, at My poetic side

History has a way of living twice!

When Carthage still in-stills a living will -

And Hannibal’s decisions still suffice

To incite men to cross the alpine hill.

The Seven Hills of Rome the Caesars walked,

Where evil men once had their powerful say,

Still own their height – and where truth talked,

The reddest god of Athens lives today.

Pandemic evil leaps from age to age

Counselors to kings and to the common man –

And all men feel this red, rough, rouge of rage

Which often hides behind a pretty sham.

In every age the venal Caesar lives,

Oppression cants this canters direful dirge,

Against times odds inveterate evil gives

Continued life to Eden’s primal scourge.

When lurking evil rises in men’s eyes

We see the same design that evil knew -

When first it innervated victim’s lives

And sold for truth when fallacy was new.

The single, cruel acts of heinous nature,

Or complex evil plans that men may ply

Proves from times beginning sin’s been nurtured -

The blood of its deceit would hue the sky!

So evil dwells; this modern scourge of man

Has roots that dwell in the eternal past,

We must not think that with our ax we can

Exhume a foe that God allowed to last.

Comments +

jarcher54 October 19th, 2020 00:45
Steve, a well-wrought catalog and argument. Very dense and interesting to follow. Ultimately, however, the narrator capitulates in a hopelessness that is a bit of a dead end. Not an overtly Judeo-Christian argument, but you suggest that original sin or evil cannot be extirpated. For every complex evil plan, there is a cure for cancer or a period of peace and prosperity, or national liberation or a scientific breakthrough that serves us well. You don't give us any hope! (-:
orchidee October 19th, 2020 02:09
A fine historical write Steve.Yes, rather like the Wheat and Weeds Bible parable. Or rather 'tares' or 'darnel', which look suspiciously like the wheat. Both are allowed to grow together until the end of time, in case the wheat is spoiled, if the tares were rooted out too soon. A bit of a mystery too

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