Tales from Café Apollinaire
Variations on Distilled Dreams Part VI
RUNAWAY TRAIN OF HISTORY
The drunk as usual angry cynical historian
and would be Jesuit
tossed out of seminary
for his indulgences
goes into a rant proclaiming
to the unwashed mob
whom he despises
at the Café Apollinaire -
we are all On the verge
dancing on razor blades
unable unwilling to change
standing on the brink
needing to take a step back
history is a runaway train
unstoppable lemmings enmass
tossing themselves over a cliff
a panicked hysterical crowd
heading for the only exit
as the room explodes in flames
like trying to outrun an avalanche-
here we are thirty forty years later
like watching re-runs on tv
now it’s famine epidemics and war
the ten plagues of Egypt
the four horses of the Apocalypse
the Holy Land bathed in blood again
the amassed military might
of one nation against another
the Crescent the Cross & the Star of David
fighting for God’s special people
which is it to be this time
is he who prevails the Chosen People
the Chosen King to usher in
the New Messiah King of Kings
for a thousand years of paradise
or the Chosen taken in a twinkling of an eye-
for six thousand years there is no end in sight
as nations and empires clash in Mesopotamia
in the Mediterranean and North Africa
from the Nile Valley to the Gates Of Hercules
to the Atlantic to the Red Sea and the Dead Sea
to the Sea of Reeds and the Persian Gulf
along the Gold Coast and the Ivory Coast
to Anatolia and Brittany to the Balkans
and the Steppes of Ancient Russia
to the Tigris and Euphrates to the River of Jordan
Babylonians Sumerians and Canaanites
Philistines Israelites and Assyrians
Persians Phoenicians and Egyptians
Romans and Greeks all struggling
waging war after war
tearing cities apart brick by brick
slaughtering all the inhabitants
men women and children
even the goats oxen and sheep
enslaving thousands
throwing thousands into the pit
to appease Baal Moloch Marduk
and a thousand other Ancient Gods
who patiently wait for the moment of their return
we are just one minute one brutal act
away from our barbaric origins
we fool ourselves building a false world
having the veneer of civilized behaviour-
in the end we are a disappointment to God
an experiment gone awry
are we like a rerun on God’s Cosmic Screen
are we just leaden winged Angels
trying to win God’s favour
we are all fallible
unable to decipher God’s desires
unable to decipher God’s plan for us
lost in our own doubt and confusion-
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