Longevity of Souls

I weep the tears of Solomon when last he heard the call
Of all his wives of foreign gods within his crumbling hall
That wise old sage had forsook the powers he beheld
And Caesar’s troops ensured that old Israel was felled
The corona of history was passed soon to the King
First to Herod then the Christ, the pivot soon would swing
As Zealots called to Pharisees and called for Jesus’ blood
Black storm clouds turned the sandy desert into mud
Simon born as Peter rose and took the papal crown
As Saul of Tarsus stood in awe as light would soon surround

Apologists and charlatans would tarnish their good names
But Augustine and Charlemagne restored the sacred chain
The kings and princes of the time soon assumed a role
As enforcers of the cross, a goblet was their goal
Barbarism and disdain became the twisted truths
And cuckold Arthur became the rising youth
When folk tales of the ancient past were revived from ash
History was soon revised so Christians would not clash
Up in flame and up in smoke went Alexandria
Its library and pagan thought met with malice and mistrust

So great evil and great good soon would come to pass
In name of God and name of King and especially of class
Europa seemed corrupted by a universal greed
So Martin Luther went to Worms and posted his treatise
Calvinistic doctrine soon swept the northern lands
And good old Henry seized the chance to marry yet again
Impure yet within the minds of the most Puritan at heart
The Anglicans began to tear themselves apart
Ousted from their nation and without home or hope
The outcasts left Angleterre and learned soon how to cope

The blizzards of this foreign land hardened their resolve
And soon the wars began against the native tribes involved
Colonies grew discontent and declared their independence
As slavery became the norm for social men of interest
The generals played their games and fought a bloody war
But soon the King grew tired and severed his support
A nation birthed in thought and deed separate from the church
Was born to Thomas Jefferson under Sally Hemmings’ skirt
Muskets flashed and rifles passed from farmer then to soldier
As tensions grew, the nation blew apart its bold composure

The war was won when all was done with casualties aplenty
As the nation wept for their kin, Lincoln died violently
Republicans and Democrats blustered and rebuilt
As dreams of black men from the South were hidden in the silt
Christ and God were soon invoked by parties young and old
The righteous and the selfish both believed their sacred goal
Emerson spoke to the priests and told them, “Look within”
Harvard made a point not to invite him e’er again
Transcendental humanists expand the nation’s mind
But Whitman stood in nature with a smile and declined

The brewing storm across the world exploded in a flash
And godless men of all the lands bled and fought and thrashed
Their disillusioned shells returned to deadened lands abroad
They numbed the pain and lived a life as tragic as was flawed
Depression settled in the land as the Satan on the Rhine
Peddled works of hate and spite that saw his quickened climb
The hammer and the sickle rose and straddled all the East
And planes and tanks and guns soon replaced the ancient priests
The Chosen Tribes of Israel were slaughtered by the score
And Franklin, Winston, and Josef battered down the door

The fungus cloud erupted and the Rising Sun withdrew
As the clawing hands of two titans began the fight anew
The dust had hardly settled as the children squandered peace
As the Israeli specter loomed above the Middle East
Armed with power and with flame granted by the world
They dominated all they saw with rockets they had hurled
The chessboard of the global map became a deadly game
Until the rise of Gorbachev who sought a different claim
The end of war was thought by all to be soon within grasp
As Bosnia and Rwanda were both allowed to pass

Terror and oppression were now the tools of trade
By both sides of conflicted testaments of faith
Were that the problems of all men and women yet so clear
It sometimes seems as though mere chance that we are even here.