It started long ago
It started in the farthest reaches of memory
It started beyond the farthest reaches of memory
It started with the unfamiliar glint
from an unfamiliar eye
It started when the line was drawn
and our consciousness was quartered
when the unfamiliar was feared
and parcels of land were bordered
It started when “I” became ME
and “they” became THEM
It started when they became “evil”
and I became “good”
It started when ME forsook WE
It started when suspicion ruled the day
and when trust had to be earned
when loyalties were bought and sold
and human rights were burned
It started with the indignation of the righteous
with the rattling of sabers and beating of drums
at the expense of those who live in the slums
It started to “secure the homeland,” but from whom?
From them or from us?
When did it start? In the mists of antiquity?
In the fierce glare of modernity?
In the blaring FOX News jingovision
or the empty slogans strewn in ubiquity?
It started in the crucible of fear,
in the white heat of distrust turned to hate
in the smoldering embers of our collapsed grief,
when keening gave way to shrewd battle scheming
and reason once more encountered a deaf ear.
It started beyond the farthest reaches of memory,
yet it starts today anew
with a vigor renewed on each beat of the drum
But when will it end? And who will end it?
When will it end? And who will end it?
—Robert Hieger
August 4, 2004