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?
