PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

"The socialism of the novelist, George Sand; of the historian, Daniel Stern; and of the
"astronomer, Francois Arago, was motivated by altruism, not political
"vengeance; and thus, their revolution failed.  Marx, Lenin, and Stalin
"understood:  the iron of industrial and military strength, lubricated by
"the iron in the shed blood of the Revolution's enemies, would establish
"the powerful, enduring, and supremely successful Soviet Union."
---Klabund Kabonov, "Socialist Or Social Lust; Vindication Or Vindictiveness,"

in The State And Status Of Stalinist Studies, Moscow, 1990, pp. 1-6, 7-12,

13-18.

1

The sheep and the wolf shake hands.
The wolf ensures the sheep understands
that ends justify their means.
The sheep shal tour through several scenes---
each of them thoroughly politicized;
each of them has been idealized;
such that the sheep cannot have realized
certain facts concealed lest they be despised.
Lesser wolves, now in sheeps' clothes,
have been brought to town for trial
("Might as well plead guilty:  any denial
"is useless, confess political guile.
"The committee's assurances---might one suppose?---
"apply even to 'enemies of the people'?")
They will be shot, or murdered in some icebound camp.
The orders bear the red, the blood-red, stamp
of the supreme wolf's command;
the wolf now shaking the sheep's shaken hand.
The wolf coyly mentions other prey.
The sheep believes the wolf spoke of prayer.
The sheep looks about with a frightened stare:
from the great, dizzy precipice where
the two of them casually stand
(hand still shaking hand)---
and the great town spread below them, there,
the sheep sees neither cross nor steeple.

2
What Jane and Francis, and even Cesare, endure---
as they watch "the people" carry
a multitude of corpses to bury---
drives them to madness.   But Doctor Caligari
will find a most efficient cure---
as only a "hero of socialist labor" can,
closely following the wolf's five year plan.

Starward

[jlc]