.

The Anarchist’s Wish

“all the great men in the world and all the nobility could be hanged,
and strangled with the guts of the priests”
__—Jean Meslier, French “Priest” (1664–1729)

“And [with] the guts of the last priest, let’s strangle the neck of
the last king”
__—Denis Diderot, French “Philosopher” (1713-1784)

“Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It
is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
__—John Adams, Second U.S. President (1735-1826)

When the last King is hung by the bowels removed
from the last of the priests, we will truly be free.
It’s an anarchist’s wish that has not been improved
since the French Revolution’s dark murderous spree.
When their “Safety Committee” took over control,
with its actions prescribed by the rogue Robespierre.
They delighted in keeping each guillotine full,
through the show trials they ordered in every town square.

They succeeded in bringing the old system down
and methodically wiping out every last trace.
Though the poor suffered more with the end of the Crown
and the rogue Robespierre lost his head in disgrace.
But for brief bursts of progress, this game gets replayed.
Hate-fueled purges have been our repetitive curse.
There will always be leaders equipped to persuade
to replace something flawed with a system far worse.

To be great as an anarchist, one must excel
at increasing the outrage, division and hate.
Fed by fury, we’re lost, and we’re easy to sell
that great evil is good if it evens the slate.
When enraged, there’s no act that can’t be justified.
Robespierre lives in all of us, even today.
Even arson and theft, and the odd homicide,
if it helps to push forward our cause in some way.

To progress, we need change but most change isn’t good.
Any change made while blinded by fury is not.
So, each anarchist’s motive must be understood,
and compared to the heart of the leaders we’ve got.
Every person is filled with a measure of good
and some bad to a greater or lesser degree.
But when blinded by rage, we don’t see as we should,
and we demonize others who dare disagree.

So, ignore BLM and of course, CRT,
and ignore what divides and seek that which unites.
If we stopped reading tweets, we would finally see
that all groups have the same set of God-given rights.
There’s no gender or race that’s more pure than the rest,
but the screeching dividers are hard to ignore.
So, until we stop ranking which group is the best,
the dividers will constantly keep us at war.

But our own revolution succeeded because
it acknowledged our rights were all given by God.
The men knew that they fought for a much larger cause
which constrained their excesses although each was flawed.
As our Founders once said, if we want to stay free,
we need virtue and faith to be taught everywhere.
With no higher belief, we’ll be doomed to soon see,
Robespierre and his purges in every town square.

.

.

Warren Bonham is a private equity investor who lives in Southlake, Texas.

NOTE TO READERS: If you enjoyed this poem or other content, please consider making a donation to the Society of Classical Poets.

The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary.


Trending now:

12 Responses

  1. Roy Eugene Peterson

    Warren, that is a brilliant poem with some great history and masterful messages packed into such excellent inspired rhyme! The quotes provided are a sermon of their own. This needs a big audience. Thank you for such a stimulative presentation with classic insights we all need.

    Reply
    • Warren Bonham

      I’ve learned more about history from others on this website than I ever did in school, and it motivated me to dig a little deeper to try and draw a comparison between the French and American revolutions. I think ours turned out better, but I can’t imagine how it’s being taught in schools today.

      Reply
  2. Phil L. Flott

    The first two stanzas of the anarchist’s wish adequately explain for me what is going on in some sections of our country. Indeed, we need to turn to God. Nature abhors a vacuum. Where there is no God, I see this anarchism rushing in. Thanks for writing so clearly.

    Reply
    • Warren Bonham

      It feels that way to me too. Tearing things down is relatively easy and it seems to be happening all over the place. Replacing the old with something better and enduring doesn’t seem to happen very often.

      Reply
  3. Susan Jarvis Bryant

    Warren, this is an admirably crafted poem that certainly highlights the ills of anarchy – history really does seem to be repeating itself, but because many are unaware of exactly where the road to anarchy leads, we seem to be traveling on the same well-worn path. But should we really: “… ignore BLM and of course, CRT, and ignore what divides and seek that which unites” in a world where only one side is willing to unite? Isn’t ignoring what’s going on around us fueling the fire of anarchy? How can parents ignore the porn on the shelves at school? How can they ignore the brainwashing of their children that leads to genital mutilation? Perhaps I am missing the main message of your poem. I’d appreciate you setting me straight.

    Reply
    • Warren Bonham

      That’s definitely a good observation. I think “reject” would have been better than “ignore”. Those groups were meant to be examples of people motivated by the “anarchist’s wish”. They are a great danger to us all.

      Reply
  4. Margaret Coats

    Warren, this is an ambitious poem to deal with the general topic of “altar and throne,” as your epigraphs indicate. I think you rightly propose that virtue and faith can restrain anger and hate–with those anarchic vices being the “Robespierre in all of us today.” What we need to ignore is not the evil of opposing forces, but their tactics of dividing society from altar and throne (religion and authority as respected ideals). These divisions they want to create enrage and embitter even good citizens. When that happens, everyone favors immediate violent purges of his or her own opponents, and those who are stronger carry them out. This poem may not be tactical advice, but it is a most valuable reminder and warning.

    Reply
    • Warren Bonham

      You said it more eloquently than I could have. Violent purges are all too common throughout human history with the most glaring examples being the violent overthrow of established governments. The American Revolution is the only example I’m aware of that made conditions better. There were many factors but I’m convinced that the wisdom of the Founders was one of the keys. They recognized the need for virtue and faith to restrain the anger and hate.

      Reply
      • Joshua C. Frank

        As mentioned in The Case Against the Modern World by Daniel Schwindt, the American Revolution itself has weakened us as a people. Democracy teaches that all are equals, and the centuries since then have led more and more to its logical conclusion: voting God off the island. After all, how can we demand that our children obey us when we laud the revolutionaries for revolting against the king over minimal taxes?

        I don’t believe the American Revolution was any exception. The initial death toll may have been lower than the French Revolution, but having lived in France, I can tell you that the end result hasn’t been very different.

  5. Joseph S. Salemi

    This fine poem has three epigraphs, the first two from Meslier and Diderot. The imagery in each has been of long standing in leftist and Communist rhetoric — as late as 1950 Earl Browder, the leader of the American Communist Party, said “I want to see the last congressman strangled with the guts of the last preacher.”

    One thing about anarchism — it is always a preliminary stage that leads to totalitarianism. Anarchism is fomented by those who want to weaken and overthrow EXISTING order, so as to make it possible for their own NEW ORDER to come to power. Look at our United States history in the 1960s — the age of legalized drug use and Flower Power and antinomianism and sexual liberty and the loosening of all traditional norms lasted for only a little while (from about 1965 to 1975), but led inexorably to the current horrific world of political correctness, mass media censorship, Deep State tyranny, cancel culture, and smothering left-liberal orthodoxy.

    Who do you suppose are the leaders and encouragers of all the crap that we have to endure today? It was all of those goddamned Flower Power types and posturing anarchists. They are now mature adults, and they are running the show. And — surprise, surprise! — they don’t support anarchy anymore.

    Reply
    • Warren Bonham

      Anarchists don’t seem to have any trouble turning on other anarchists (poor Robespierre didn’t last very long after the French Revolution – nor did Lenin or Trotsky after the Russian Revolution). You have to be extra ruthless to survive periods of turmoil like that and come out on top. That must be what allows today’s leaders to keep on thriving after all these years.

      Reply
  6. Drilon Bajrami

    A very thought-provoking poem, Warren. While I’m quite ignorant of the history of the French Revolution, I can see many parallels in your poem between that and the Communist Revolutions in Russia in 1917. Many people welcomed the communists with open arms and later came to see what they were REALLY about.

    Yevgeny Zamyatin, the writer of the novel ‘We’, was one of those , that initially supported the February revolution but after the violence and brutality of the October revolution, he was a staunch anti-communist and his novel led to his exile and eventualy death in poverty. I personally see him as a hero.

    I did some light reading on Robespierre and while I am still ignorant of this man (a light read of his wikipedia article doesn’t make me an expert), to me it seemed he entered the world of politics with good intentions: the equal rights of all men, democracy, the right of all men to vote and to petition the government etc.. But when men come across the vice of power, it takes a special man to wield the power and not for the power to wield the man. His initiation of the ‘Reign of Terror’ doesn’t paint him in a positive light and, indeed, undoes all of the good which he intended to do when he first entered the political world. He was a man wielded by power.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.