The End of Abstraction

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS (UKRAINE)

 

The End of Abstraction

 

A darling little girl

Laying still in a hospital bed

A moment captured on camera

The little girl lay dead

 

Her father is not pictured

Her mother is in tears

Her sorrow belongs to all now

The worst of all our fears

 

War used to be an abstraction

Printed words on a page

Now it’s all up close and personal

We are in the digital age

 

There have been many wars before

Unprovoked and unjustified

But only rarely have we observed

The faces of those who died

 

This war belongs to Putin

It might have been Iraq

Now the world has been awakened

Time to halt and take stock

 

Propaganda Failure

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Propaganda Failure

 

When the propaganda fails

We wonder if it ever worked at all

Did the people just pretend to believe?

Did they go along to avoid punishment?

Were they waiting for the chance

To express the truth?

 

That they never did believe

That they knew the truth all along

That the dictator was lying

That his hold was not that strong

That he stole the people’s money

Stashed in foreign banks

Buying castles and glorious yachts

As well as missiles bombs and tanks

They knew it from the start

He was a power-hungry brute

A man without a conscience

A man without a heart

 

The emperor has no clothes

No courage and no strength

The emperor does not care

Who suffers or who dies

He will go to any length

To gain his fame and fortune

To claim his brutal prize

 

He is naked and exposed

His reputation grows

And everybody knows

His game

Annihilation

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS (UKRAINE)

Annihilation

 

The Ukrainians need our help

They want our boots on the ground

But that is a risky measure

That would render the world unsound

 

For while Putin may be mad

He possesses nuclear power

That could reduce the earth to dust

And set in motion our last hour

 

Putin’s Russia is a rogue nation

We will do all that we can

But we can’t risk annihilation

By combat hand to hand

 

We must rely on sanctions

To put the despot in his place

For this world may not survive

His assault on the human race

 

Resistance

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS (UKRAINE)

Resistance

 

In the face of an aggressor

Against the fiercest foe

The people gather together

Their numbers begin to grow

They feel the spirit move them

And they begin to sing

When the beast is at the gates

Resistance is everything

 

The odds are stacked against them

Their army is much too small

Their enemy is powerful

And still they stand up tall

For they know their cause is right

The bells of freedom ring

When invaders are at the gate

Resistance is everything

 

The war bears down upon them

They’ve come to kill them all

But they will never surrender

Until the last battle call

They’ll hold their heads up high

Like proud warriors or kings

In the face of the invaders

Resistance is everything

 

Sanctions

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS (UKRAINE)

Sanctions

 

Banished from the world of nations

Banished from the earth

All the money that is traced to him

That money has no worth

 

He might have a trillion rubles

Tucked away in hidden places

But what good is all that fortune

If he’s confined to darkened spaces?

 

Take his money and his treasure

Take it all in ample measure

Take his mettle and his spark

Steal his papers in the dark

 

Let him live without his wealth

Take his glory and his health

Make it suffer, let it hurt

Take his gold and give him dirt