“Games”

  

c. 2026 Rod Ice

All rights reserved

(7-26)

 

Not enough coins in the coffers to feed hungry mouths

Yet more than enough to kill

Sabers sharpened and brought to bear

A contest of opposing will

This dilemma is not new, by any means

It has perplexed minds, galore

The tendency of a high-functioning primate to leap

Into the cause of war

Let the games go on

Let them go

 

Not enough patience among the tribes to negotiate

Breaking bread as one

Swords spike toward the ranks with intent

To see this dark deed done

A worried look upon the face of a mother

Who may never see her children again

Sent offshore for a campaign of righteousness

A holy trip ‘round the bend

Let the games go on

Let them go

 

Brittle bones of our ancestors still lie under the soil

A memory long undisturbed

Despite their march from mud to the cosmos

The cycle remains undeterred

Blood is spilled as a tonic for the masses

Fuel for pharaohs and kings

Coffins carried home with reverence

And a touch of hands, pale and trembling

Let the games go on

Let them go

 

For those that rise to speak against this traditional tilt

There is a cost incurred

A mockery of true believers with their prayerbooks

A growing growl, to be heard

But silence is the sad yield of morrow

A stillness of the grave

Where stones carved with inscriptions of honor

Denote those who could not be saved

Let the games go on

Let them go

 

One side, the other side, all are opposed

With colors caught on the wind

A trumpet flourish before the parade

A contrast of features and skin

There is one world, on which our kind dwells

It is not difficult to believe

But the stripes and regiments split that brood

Into quadrants that quarrel, endlessly

Let the games go on

Let them go

 

Some fret about the coming of an alien race

From planets distant to the sun

As if those beings hued in gray or green

Might view us with some suspicion

But I must posit that if anything at all

They would pity us as weak

For our habit of hurling stones in anger

At those who shun the critique

Let the games go on

Let them go

 

If God exists, then that force of omnipotent love

Must bow its head and weep

To think that this rock in the universe

Was created to generate hate and heat

We are a bastard kind, bent by our liberty

To think and act as we choose

Our tools to cultivate are many and wondrous

But we use them to break and bruise

Let the games go on

Let them go

 

Birth and death are linked in a paradigm

A circle set in place

From the point of our origin as a species

Truly lost in space

For generations, that plan has not differed much

The same effect is nigh

Banners raised to block out the golden glow

Of virgin skies

Let the games go on

Let them go

 

Let the games go on, for centuries and more

That is the way of our brand

Seeking shelter in the shadows of a fortress

Built to endure and withstand

Whatever comes, it will be as a continuation

Of the empire in effect

And those kneeling at the gates of that city

Will be the ones we neglect

Let the games go on

Let them go

 

Sleep well in the night, never ending

It is the duty of all

A glimmer of life in its infancy

Reduced to a scribbling of chalk

Touch the face of a monument that stands

A remembrance of sacrifice, gone

The conflict surges with a heartbeat pulse

Until the last warrior moves along

Let the games go on

Let them go