Interregnum
Butcher the evil millionaire, peasant,
And leave him stinking in the square.
Torture the chancellor.
Leave the
Strung by his thumbs from the
Embassy wall, where the vines were.
Then drill your hogs and sons for another war.
Fire on the screaming crowd, ambassador,
Sick chancellor, brave millionaire,
And name them by the name that is your name.
Give privilege to the wound, and
The last resister.
Poison the
And mew for peace, for order, and for war.
View with alarm, participant, observer,
Buried in medals from the time before.
Whisper, then believe and serve and
And drape fresh bunting on the
From here to India.
This is the world you
When the wind blows fresh for war.
Hide in the dark alone, objector;
Ask a grenade what you are living for,
Or drink this knowledge from the mud.
To an abyss more terrible than
Descend and tunnel toward a
Away from anything that moves with blood.
Weldon Kees
Other author posts
Variations on a Theme by Joyce
The war is in words and the wood is the That turns beneath our rootless feet;the vines that reach, alive and snarled, Across the path where the sand is swirled, Twist in the night
Robinson
The dog stops barking after Robinson has gone His act is over The world is a gray world, Not without violence, and he kicks under the grand piano,
The Upstairs Room
It must have been in March the rug wore through Now the day passes and I At warped pine boards my father's father nailed, At the twisted grain
A Musicians Wife
Between the visits to the shock The doctors used to let you On the old upright Donated by a former
