Countdown
The clock is ticking on the final days of empire.
Fires burn in the west, floods drown the east.
We can never kill enough or steal enough
or inflict enough pain to keep the walls from falling.
Everyone on Earth could have a home and food,
education and clothing and medical care,
but the empire is ravenous and cannot allow it.
The ticking of the clock grows louder.
In these days of lawlessness and greed,
in these times of savagery and decay,
the urge to lash out, to harm, to seek revenge,
is difficult to resist. It feels justified.
There is a place for anger. There is a place for justice.
There is even a place for violence.
But first we must build community.
We must build bonds they cannot break,
not with their tanks and their bombs
and their bombs and their guns.
Our unity must be such that even in Room 101,
even as the cage is lowered and we hear the rats,
we stay true to one another. There are more of us than them.
We cannot stop the clock, but we can decide
for whom the bell tolls.
/ / /
27 January 2025
Charlottesville VA
The second couplet is a paraphrase of a line from the movie Tombstone.
The ninth couplet is a paraphrase of lyrics from “Zombie” by The Cranberries.
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