I await our Archduke Ferdinand moment,

the catalyst in which many of us will fade

into history’s notebook and which is followed

by the eraser, the silver tongue

with white mesh, diseases

of the throat capturing the lies,

spreading the hatred;

I await the gossip that spews

from the fountain of knowledge

and know that all I have learned,

all I have tried in vain

to remember

will be put down in a diary,

hidden under rubble

till the world is awash

with God’s curse.

I await our Archduke Ferdinand moment

with anticipation,

hear the single gun shot of approaching reckoning,

Babel is starting to crack

and we shall be caught in its falling

shadow.

 

Ian D. Hall 2016