A fleet of ships slipped anchor
In the sea of doubt one night
Hove into the bay of certainty
As dawn unsheathed its light
And what before thought hard and fast
Unalterably true
Had vanished with the darkness
Retreating from the dew
The first almighty salvo
It ripped across our bows
And suddenly the air was filled
With holy sacred cows
There were priests and nuns and bishops
We had trusted all our lives
So many were found wanting
Darkness behind their eyes
The next they loaded grapeshot
It tore our sails to shreds
A once mighty celtic tiger
Crashed to the deck, stone dead
The banks had printed millions
And gambled it away
You and me, poor ship of fools
Must pay ,and pay, and pay.
At last , a cruel cannonball
Holed us down below
“Abandon ship!” the Captain cried
“Leave everything and go.”
And in the air about us
White dust began to blow
Cocaine,crack and heroin
And other stuff, like snow.
And now those ships went about
And sailed off in the blue
And never thought to throw a rope
To the likes of me and you
They are owned by faceless men
Who rule the world by stealth
They hold more power than nation states
They covet only wealth.
For he who holds the purse strings
As any wife can tell
He’s the one who calls the tune
And the rest can go to hell
While away on the horizon
Remorseless as time
Rides yet another horseman
With destruction on his mind.
And we poor shipwrecked sailors
Stumble on the shore
And turn to emigration
To keep the dog back from the door
As for that paler horseman
He will come what time he may
We must be brave to face him
And not try to run away.
massacre of the innocents-pisano
.
Bruegel. Triumph of Death
beatriceanddante 