Born in a normal time,
\nThe periodic slaughter of millions
\nBy the civilized nations of the earth
\nI grew to adulthood half-crazed
\nWith fear and numbed wonder.<\/p>\n
I always wished to believe otherwise,
\nThat people were good at heart,
\nWanted to live in mutual peace
\nAnd tend the green earth as if
\nIt were a garden
\nAs if pity vivified all living things.<\/p>\n
Somehow the blood that was in me
\nSaid otherwise,
\nSpoke truth to the power
\nOf my wish,
\nWhile everywhere around me lay the lie.<\/p>\n
But my blood, this blood that became me
\nWhile millions were being butchered
\nAnd Bing Crosby crooned I\u2019m dreaming
\nOf a white Christmas,
\nThis red blood said otherwise.<\/p>\n
Do not accept the way they say
\n\u201cGood Morning\u201d
\nAnd the way they nod as they pass,
\nAs though they didn\u2019t want to kill
\nEach other.<\/p>\n
Do not believe their eyes
\nAnd the way they pray to the skies
\nTo save them.<\/p>\n
Do not believe their beliefs,
\nAll lies woven to deceive.<\/p>\n
For at heart they truly hate
\nThe green earth.<\/p>\n
Do not believe the way they say
\n\u201cGood Evening\u201d
\nFor they wish the darkest night
\nTo descend upon us,
\nThe nothingness of their knowledge
\nTo swallow all.<\/p>\n
That is what will release them,
\nThat is all.<\/p>\n
Thus my blood spoke to me,
\nA child of a sanguine century,
\nBorn in a normal time,
\nThe periodic slaughter of millions
\nBy the civilized nations of the earth.<\/p>\n
And despite all appearances,
\nI have never believed them.
\nNever.\u00a0 Not at all.
\n_____________________________________<\/p>\n
Educated in the classics, philosophy, literature, theology, and sociology, I teach sociology at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. My writing on varied topics has appeared widely over many years. I write as a public intellectual for the general public, not as a specialist for a narrow readership<\/em>.<\/em> I believe a non-committal sociology is an impossibility and therefore see all my work as an effort to enhance human freedom through understanding.\u00a0 I can be reached at http:\/\/edwardcurtin.com\/contact<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Born in a normal time,
\nThe periodic slaughter of millions
\nBy the civilized nations of the earth
\nI grew to adulthood half-crazed
\nWith fear and numbed wonder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry-format"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85335\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}