It was always the same story
This one guy wants this one thing
So he kills this other guy
Who has the thing
And then someone sees the first guy
And decides he wants the thing
That the first guy took from the other guy
So he decides to kill the first guy
And it went on and on like this
Decade after decade
Century after century
I couldn’t believe it at first
I thought there must be some mistake
This could not actually be
How people acted
It seemed like some kind of degraded
Slapstick show from a carnival midway
Someone with a big toy hammer
Bonks the noggin of somebody else
And takes his bag of oranges
And then a different guy
Bonks the first guy on the noggin
With a bigger toy hammer
And takes the bag of oranges from him
They acted like this
in Russia China England Germany France?
And in my country
They paid kidnappers
To bring people over
On these creaking death galleons
From across the ocean to pick things
That grew from the earth
Because they wanted more things
I’d never seen anything so stupid
So much evil death killing
With no greater message
That’s it? I said
I read Shakespeare plays
And there it was all over again
This one guy gave a big speech
On a hill in front of everybody
Getting ready to die
Just because he wanted the thing
This other guy had
The efflorescent language
The agonizing the weeping
The whispers in the night
The Friars and the priests
People in robes and people in uniforms
Smoky white candles pooling wax
Souls wailing beneath the distant moon
In the cold winter sky
Because this one guy had something
The other guy wanted
I went downstairs into
My friend’s basement
For band practice
I played a white Stratocaster copy
He played a silver drum set
With some blankets and a brick
Holding down the bass drum
We learned Clash songs
Bob Marley Gang of Four
I hoped we were doing
Something different
It felt like we were
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