‘On Epic Madness’: A Poem by Bruce Dale Wise

.

On Epic Madness

Sing, goddess, of the hate, and killings, on the Earth unleashed,
destructive wrath which brings such woe to south, west, north and east,
and sends to hell heroic souls, to vile dogs of war,
to crows and vultures, scavengers of death, and all their corps.
This plan of God continues through the eons of the World,
since first humanity came forth, and strife was thus unfurled.

Who were the gods and goddesses who brought this mania,
this evil pestilence, Afghanistan to Zambia,
Zimbabwe to Albania, this anger and this zeal?
Who brought this death into the World, an adamantine seal?
So people perish everywhere; Priest Crisis can’t avail.
It is our fate, dishonor comes, it is our lot to fail.

Across the oceans and the seas, the fast ships sail and fly.
Past counting are the troubles that reside beneath the sky.
Aureole shafts and arrows storm Earth. See and feel them soar.
Apollo strikes us from afar, his golden orb outpours.
No sons of Atreus, Achilles, or Achaian king
can save us from, or have the power equal to the Sun.

.

.

Bruce Dale Wise is a poet and former English teacher currently residing in Texas.