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Thursday, April 11, 2019

ASYLUM SONG

by M.H. Spicknall


Hundreds of migrants are being held under an El Paso, Texas bridge without clean water or proper shelter. —NowThis News, March 29, 2019


When all the dogs run into the wood
  When all the forests stiffen to stone
    When all the rocks dissolve into dust
When all the debris buries the thrones

When all good gods have fall’n to their knees
  When all the faithful have done what they could
    When all the deeds done do not hold the hounds
When all of us have forgotten the good

When all the pleas are lost silent screams
  When all the quiet has set loose a fate
    When all coming time reflects only us
When all our mirrors reflect only hate

When all our fears have walled off the world
  When all of this land is for just us alone
    When all of them crawl back to the wood
When all that’s left is to gnaw on their bones


Author’s Note: The poem can be sung to Dylan’s “Masters Of War,” and includes a sad nod to Woody Guthrie.


Mark Spicknall is a manufacturing and business consultant, who writes simply to help distill things to their essence for his own understanding.