Bloody Cheek and Grisly Ear
July 13, 2024: A Poem
Bloody Cheek and Grisly Ear July 13, 2024 A bloody cheek and grisly ear Can shoot a nation into fear, Or bolster strength of latent aims, And cause combust of rival claims. What then we do with country’s soul When bodies maimed by bullet hole? When men are dead by finger’s pull? When Charon’s hand exacts his toll? Return of blood is raging now, Despite the kings who disallowed The pumping heart to sink bereft Into the pit of sudden death. Perhaps the grave has never left, And sepulchre was but suppressed; The lives of men might truly mean More than silence ‘tween bookend screams. As if awoke from doubtful dreams, The morning’s light can now be seen, And in the light the chamber clears, To see again what sage and seer Had brought to us from far beyond The cave of shadows’ pleasing bonds: Our natures speak of right and wrong, Our souls ascend through death and song, If life amounts to not one thing, Then why do poets fight to sing? And why do men fight for belief? And why does death incur our grief? If life is not a fight to win, A race against the wage of sin, Then why do we receive the wind, And be then moved to sing a hymn? So red on white upon a face Supersedes a ballot race; Bloody men are manifest, And mean much more than office crest. A flag painted with red and white Is flying high for blood and fight, We close the books on damn despair, Raise our fist and punch the air, Though doom and death and sheer decay Have brought us low, we still remain. So bloody cheek and grisly ear Say much to those who wish to hear.