The sounds of boot steps, marching,
pounding in my ears, hundreds,
perhaps thousands, locked
in unison, thudding on stones,
staining in the blood on streets,
life force pouring down lit avenues
and darkened alleyways, marching
to a song of violence, a drumbeat,
the tattoo of the mind, un-thinking
in unison, the lords and hordes
of violence rush forward, feeding
upon themselves, drinking themselves
intoxicated, consuming impieties
and impulses, boot-steps formless
and deep, the wave crashing
upon the golden shore, the wave
edged in silver needles.
So I heard a sermon Sunday on Proverbs 1:8-18, and my notes included words like violence, siren song, marching. Coincidentally, the One Word Blog Carnival today has a prompt of “marching,” Peter Pollock is hosting the carnival, and you can read more posts at his site.
This poem is also submitted to Open Link Night at dVerse Poets. The links will be live at 2 p.m. Central time today.
Photograph: Marching by Sharon Apted via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.
13 comments:
These are powerful words marching upon my screen this morning Glynn.
Thanks!
The heaviness of words like "thudding" and the chant-like lines evoke marching; the image of "the wave / edged in silver needles" is very strong.
Thanks Glynn, I had to go read Proverbs 1 again, even though I read it on the first of every month I missed it... I figured for sure it was from Rev. 9 -
"So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind. 16 Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them. 17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision: those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone. 18 By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths. 19 For their power[a] is in their mouth and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they do harm.
20 But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands..."
without the spiritual connotation this becomes hauntingly real as a potential future...of course in the spiritual conotation it is all the more a bit...
I read this earlier ... it was powerful then and it is powerful now. And somewhat distressing.
Wow! I'd never thought of Prov. 1 like this. But I went back and read it too. It truly is warning against violence and turning away from evil. Powerful! Good job.
Made me dig out my grandmother's old King James, Glynn--a very apropos verse for current events. Your poem certainly captures that feeling of the damned rushing as fast as possible to their own deaths and personal hells on the golden wave of greed.
Can we stop the march? It does seem hopeless, but some can be pulled from the march as brands from the fire. At least we must keep some of the children from entering in and becoming a part of the march. Support your Local Good News Clubs, and release time Christian Education in your area. There are other places too that need support, but the children in your area is a good place to begin.
strong and nicely done!
this has
caused
me to
pause
I took it as a warning, as if the Nazi's had won and then having wreaked as much possible havoc on the world, their corruption was so complete that the sea came with needles (drugs?) and dragged them away. Then I read the comments and it could be read in a more general way regarding men giving themselves up to laziness, and letting the power mongers take over. Well done.
DAMN. This is powerful. Can hear the marching in the words. Dark. But very well written.
My fear is that one day we will hear the sound of marching in our streets...
and I'm not talking about the high school marching band!
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