Counterclockwise

clockwise they point the way
onwards to a modern day
seers of enlightened times
to shame the world behind

  and in our innocence we follow where they lead
  whose intent is pure as snow
  and as we cherish our illusion of satisfying speed
  counterclockwise we go

decades of pledges made
of peace and equal trade
by sovereign, diplomatist and priest
to suez and all points east

  and all the history in the groves of academe
  must fail to prick our pride
  when of that modest utopia we still profess to dream
  as counterclockwise we slide

  each day of progress announces
  another bomb, another shell
  the more we listen for heaven's angel choir
  the closer are we to hell

how can jerusalem forgive
the empires that made her live?
still once, but now forever more
haunted, if not at war

  and what created that ‘army of the dead’
  that holds the city under siege
  but three religions, battalions whose leaders could be led
  counterclockwise to preach?