Sunday, October 30, 2022

A Human Stampede (Seoul)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS


A Human Stampede

 

A stampede of cattle or bison

We can almost understand

Such animals act in concert

One following another

In panic and horror

 

A stampede of humans

Should never happen

 

A mindless mass moving as one

Spurred by a moment of terror

The terror creeps inside the mind

Replacing faculties of critical thought

Supplanting common sense

Generating a wave of motion

Without direction or guidance

Only an instinct to escape

By any means at all costs

 

In Seoul the human stampede

Cost over a hundred fifty lives

Leaving behind a trail of tears

An absence in so many families

A void in so many communities

For generations to come

 

The tragedy reminds us what happens

When the mind becomes the masses

When fear and terror rules the mob

When the one surrenders to the many

 

We are many on a small fragile planet

We must learn to live together

Without sacrificing ourselves

Without losing our individual souls

 

We mourn for the people of Seoul

Their sorrow is our sorrow

Our tears are joined to theirs

Today we are all Koreans

One planet, one destiny

Many parts, one whole

 

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