by Steve Tanham
A rocky height of towering truth
A hundred years of blood and sacrifice
Laid waste in haste to crown a naked lie
Where courtiers smile like truth and gloat
Up among the goat-men at the throat
Once taken, that first step reflects
The once-fine earth, which now collects
Within the wheels of grasping greed
Old boys, less good, embrace the skin
Beneath the hooves of goats and men
©Stephen Tanham 2022
Stephen Tanham is a Director of the Silent Eye, a journey through the forest of personality to the dawn of Being.
http://www.thesilenteye.co.uk and http://www.suningemini.blog
Sun in Gemini 
HI Steve, this is thought provoking and I am wondering what inspired it. Whether it is the general state of the world or whether the recent ruling in the USA on carbon emission control has contributed to your thought process.
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Thanks, Robbie. It was an emotive and general observation about the common nature of the people destroying generations of kindness.
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Destruction seem to be our only way of dealing with life these days. Or was it always so? (K)
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I think abuse of power has always been with us, Kerfe. It’s endemic, now, because whole populations can be manipulated.
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That’s true. Words and images are all manipulated now.
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I share your feelings, Steve. So much that was good and took an age to build, being corrupted by smiling men of poor character.
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That’s a great phrase, Michael. Thank you.
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A powerful poem, Steve. I couldn’t help but see the US all over this, though I saw in one of your comments that you were aiming more globally. To half of the US population, truth no longer matters. In fact, it’s met with utter disdain. We are really in tough shape over here. It’s scary.
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It is scary over here, too, Diana. Brexit was a billionaire-funded tissue of lies that is devastating the UK economy. A scary number of people admitted to voting for it because they ‘weren’t consulted last time’ when Britain joined the EU – despite the fact that they’d enjoyed 47 years of prosperity. At the time of writing, two of the most senior Tory (read ‘Republican’) ministers have just resigned. The weave is unraveling, but the damage is done.
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I’m so sorry to hear that, Steve. These are such strange times. There’s a collective madness.
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Stepping back a little, we can say that there have always been periods of outright destruction of civilisation, led by people who were ‘drunk on sudden and unexpected power’.
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I know. I keep that in the back of my mind and it helps. It just seems that we never learn and become more lethal at the same time.
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I believe fervently that there are also ‘cracks’ in destruction’s path that can lead to astonishing turn-arounds. Not often a restoration of what was, but something entirely new – and good. 😎
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I love that attitude. We won’t get there without it.
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Let’s ‘travel lightly and strike swiftly’, then!
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