WHY WAR?

Drawing by Francisco de Goya ("Los desastres de la guerra")

Those on top are helium.

They are ghosts in their sheets,

In their suits, on high heels.

So safe in their massive rides,

Beyond fences made of steel.

Those below, after they feel

How much their bodies weigh

Exhausted from daily work,

Notice that the helium

Which had previously escaped,

Comes back as a hurricane

Dragging along bulks of iron.

The high beams of grand ideas

- Motherland, prayers, revenge -

That keep those on top relaxed

While they are lying on their beds

Need to stick their foundations

In nothing but living flesh.

The money machine demmands

Its good share of human blood

To function, from time to time.

The fire that keeps alert

The people who are below

Feeds from some of them as well

So that the hot air balloon

Can hover up in the sky.

The fact that there's east and west

Is good for hot air balloons -

That way collateral damage

Does not look up to the sky

After the next bomb has hit.

Helium starts the wind.

Oxygen of humans

- As always - pays the bill.

Copyright: Luis de la Rosa Rivera. All rights reserved. This poem is my own translation into English of the previous post in this blog: NO A LA GUERRA.