We refine the means of Destruction:
Abstract Science almost visibly shining.²
Why such daily cast of brazen cannon—
And foreign mart for implements of war?³
The more who own lethal weapons,
The more Darkened is the country.⁴
Powerful new human weapons shall finally end
In a profound & scandalous Desolation of the Spirit!⁵
All who Draw the sword shall Perish by the sword!⁶
The Soldiers measure the distance between
Being and Nonbeing with a tank’s scope.⁷
Weapons replace our Tongues:
We learn to Speak through them.⁸
The Dead aren’t mourned by human song, but by
A cacophony of new Technologies & Armaments.⁹
A bayonet’s contrition is
Nothing to the Dead.¹⁰
¹ Ursula K. Le Guin, The Matter of Seggri
² Denise Levertov, The Certainty
³ William Shakespeare, Hamlet
⁴ Lao Tzu tr. Charles Muller, Tao Te Ching 57
⁵ Hermann Hesse tr. Damion Searls, Demian
⁶ Matthew 26:52
⁷ Mahmoud Darwish tr. Fady Joudah, A State of Siege
⁸ Jim Jarmusch, Dead Man
⁹ Carolyn Forché, Introduction to Against Forgetting
¹⁰ Emily Dickinson, My Triumph Lasted