Lessons
from History, Tranquil Ripples To Convulsive Tides
By Mirza A. Beg
03 November, 2006
Countercurrents.org
Perhaps history channels through ‘Karma’
Yesterday’s sorrows
haunt our tomorrows
Every breath starts a ripple
In the fabric of space and
time
Countless little ripples
In quiet repose attenuate
To form tranquil pools of
harmony
But in cumulative seething
anger of injustice
They build colossal waves
to wash away
The burden of mighty Empires
In violent convulsions
June 28 of 1914, was a fateful
day
An unknown Serbian, blinded
by nationalism
Chauvinistically claimed
Bosnia for Serbia,
Shot the visiting Archduke
Ferdinand
Heir to the Austrian Empire,
in Sarajevo
The shot reverberated to
convulse Europe
In arrogance, Austria threatened
Serbia
Russia, in Slavic unity threatened
Austria
In pride, Germany threatened
Russia
Britain and France allies
of Russia mobilized
Conceited, ‘civilized’
denizens of Europe
Fell to propaganda, a delusional
phrase,
“A war to end all wars”.
As cannon fodders,
They lined up to fall over
the precipice
In an absurd march of folly
Imperial tyrannies spawn
myriad ripples
To raise colossal tides of
history
To crush formidable empires
Humbled arrogant Austria
and Germany
And washed away the pompous
rulers
Of shaky Russian and Turkish
Empires
Lessons unheeded, keep on
haunting
From generation to generation,
Thus came a greater World
conflagration
To dismember Germany and
incinerate Japan
In unimagined puffs of nuclear
inferno
Mighty winners came up paupers
too
British and the French shorn
of empires
Confined to their national
boundaries
Falling from grandeur of
centuries past
New powers, Americans and
the Soviets
Grappled to carve the world
in bipolar halves
In proxy wars, destroying
every innocence
Trampling the globe in a
dance of death
The Korean, mid-East and
the Vietnam Wars
Inflicting tyrants in the
name of democracy
Selling arms, to those with
no food
Sowing hunger, trampling
hopes and dreams
Of unsuspecting millions
in the web of lies
Then came the ‘generous’
Soviet invasion
Of Afghanistan, a graveyard
of past empires
Pillaging and, slaughtering
the proletariat
To liberate them, to enjoy
the Soviet tyranny
The tortured sigh of the
suffering Afghans
Crashed through to implode
the Soviet Empire
In a cycle of ‘Karma’,
oblivious of history
Blinkered citizens of the
sole “Hyper-power”
Caught between arrogance
of power and fear of 9/11
Succumb to an ignoramus bully
at the cusp of history,
A fascistic slogan, “Those
not with us are against us”
Concocted lies, for wars
to create more wars
Maligning freedom, democracy
and religion
To “Stay the course”
to death and destruction
In validation of every evil
in the name of good
Revenge for 3,000 American
dead justifies killing
Hundreds of thousands and
maiming millions in Iraq
Should the innocent dead
Iraqis, be avenged?
Will the millions of ripples
unite in a fateful tide?
To wash away the good that
wrought so much evil?
Or will we learn, repent
and avert the looming tide?
Mirza A. Beg
can be reached at [email protected]
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