For the new generations
You and bride, side-by-side
At new son’s cradle side,
First son at grandpa’s side,
Daughter at grandma’s side,
All at full tableside—
Fortunate family!
Springtime ride, riverside.
Summer swim, oceanside.
Autumn hike, mountainside.
Winter song, fireside.
Countryside, cityside,
Sweet life of bourgeoisie!
But there’s another side—
Rat-race-cide, ed-debt-cide,
Rush-hour- cide, autocide,
Boob-tube-cide, junk-food-cide,
Beer-gut-cide, pharma-cide—
All are slow suicide!
Spermicide, ovicide,
Feticide, filicide,
Fratricide, sororicide,
Patricide, matricide
Uxoricide, parricide—
All kinds of homicide!
Suicide, homicide,
Facticide, democide,
Plebe- cide, bourgeois-cide,
Regicide, vaticide,
Ethnocide, genocide—
If need be, deicide.
Herbicide, phytocide,
Virucide, bactericide,
Larvacide, vermicide,
Aphicide, acaricide,
Pulicide, culicide—
Everywhere, pesticide!
Formicide, arachnicide,
Vespacide, housefly-cide,
Thuricide, Wondercide,
Moth-killing chemo-cide,
Honeybee-cide, bumblebee-cide—
Massive insecticide!
Rodenticide, raticide,
Felicide, cane-cide,
Vulpecide, lupi-cide,
Bison-cide, grizzly-cide,
Panda-cide, Pongo-cide—
Worldwide Mammalia-cide!
Lion-cide, tiger-cide,
Rhino-cide, hippo-cide,
Monkey-cide, primate-cide,
Elephant species-cide,
Bushman-cide, black-slave-cide—
Ages-long Afri-cide!
Plankton-cide, piscicide,
Porpoise-cide, dolphin-cide,
Pistris-cide, penguin-cide,
Walrus-cide, fur-seal-cide,
Throwawayplastic-cide—
Terrible ocean-cide!
River-cide, ocean-cide,
Forest-cide, jungle-cide,
Insect-cide, mammal-cide,
Agri-cide, urbicide,
Ecocide, terracide—
God, this is omnicide!
What makes us want to kill?
Is there real need to kill?
Whom do you want to kill?
We were not made to kill.
Homicide? Humani-cide?
Omnicide? You decide!
Stand fast at children’s side,
Fighting this death flood tide.
Common cause must preside!
Surely, had we half tried,
Science for life applied,
There’d be no omnicide!
Holocaust worldwide,
Creaturehood crucified,
Death, we must not abide.
Close-allied, side-by-side,
Common good be our guide,
Life once more sanctified!
Note: Most of the hyphenated words above were coined for this poem. All words without hyphens, however, are in the dictionary.
Robert Cable (“Bob”) is a life-long lover of poetry but a late-life writer of it. He grew up in small towns of South Dakota (USA), then studied at Harvard (1958-1962) on a General Motors National Scholarship but learned the wrong things. He continued his education with two years of Peace Corps service in Peru, then by teaching and learning from his students in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Iran and back “home” in Minnesota, Texas, Washington DC and Massachusetts. Bob has three children with his first wife Layla from Palestine. With current wife Lorraine, he worked with “Special Needs” adults for 30 years until retirement in 2015. He has has written about 400 poems since then. Email: [email protected]
© Robert Cable, 2019
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