Arm

an amazing lever

the cleverest

ever

 

three fulcrums

shoulder

elbow

wrist

 

(fourteen further

form the

hand)

 

great for hugging

lifting

holding

 

bracing nudging

and

enfolding

 

also blocking

pushing

pulling

 

reaching swinging 

-- watch this! --

throwing

 

(can you see where

this is

going?)

 

fold the hand

Into a stone

 

it hits hard --

a bruise is grown

 

even better grab

a rock

 

shatter bone with

one good sock

 

hold on -- this thing

can be thrown!

 

it connects with

someone’s head

 

and that someone

falls down dead:

 

arm to armor,

armament

 

not what the

designer meant

 

but too tempting

to resist:

 

cudgels pikestaffs

trebuchets

 

daggers broadswords

and epees

 

then some curious

clever boys

 

blend a powder

that makes noise

 

and unleashes

bursts of light

 

soon the night is

brighter, louder

 

we have fireworks

-- and gunpowder: 

 

muskets flintlocks

dueling pistols

 

shotguns rifles

guided missiles

 

countless ways

to inflict harm

 

all extensions

of the arm.

 

How’d we get here?

what’s the link

 

that has brought us

to the brink

 

threat’ning to make

us extinct?

 

Long ago

a Roman poet

 

found the key

(but didn’t know it)

 

“Armae virumque”

he stated

 

which today would

be translated

 

“arms and the man” :

he thought they went

 

well together,

I dissent:

 

his phrase urges

me toward seeing 

 

the problem is --

the human being:

 

Us, with all our

fine intentions

 

our religions

and inventions,

 

brought to this

by our addiction

 

to our fears,

and to the fiction

 

that amassing

deadly powers

 

gives us safe

and happy hours

 

sipping tea and

smelling flowers --

 

such a future

is not ours.