“And Caesar’s spirit, raging for revenge,
With Atë by his side come hot from hell,
Shall in these confines with a monarch’s voice
Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war,
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial.”
Julius Caesar Act 3, scene 1
we have need of gods
an ancient irony
like blood that needs heat
to sweat out the mysteries
to rage in revenge
to reconcile sacrifice
to repel condemnation
to simmer our gratitude
for the many wonders
as misunderstood
as all the horrors
relieve us we pray
in our righteous moments
from the sins of others
their guns, their bombs
their swords of hate
lives and livelihoods cut short
in genocides renamed –
semantics play large
in wars of loathing
and vile justifications
relieve us we pray
from children killing children
from executions in the street
from brothers killing brothers
from sisters unleashed
like the dogs of war
like a belly full of cancer
like an aorta swelling
our gods cry ‘havoc’
in traps set by rulers
by teachers at schools
and in places of worship
by parents at dinner table
our legs immobilized
like wolves ensnared
we chew at our feet
attempts at freedom
cripple and break us
and everywhere
mouthing lies
groaning in denial
bowing to gutter rats
scraping to vultures
the false gods of our making
– Jamie Dedes
Photo credit ~ the “Ludovisi Ares”, Ares- the Greek God of War and Bloodlust via Wikipedia by Marie-Lan Nguyen and generously released into the public domain.
JAMIE DEDES ~ My worldly tags are poet and writer. For the past five years I’ve blogged at The Poet by Day,the journey in poem, formerly titled Musing by Moonlight. Through the gift of poetry (mine and that of others), I enter sacred space.
The BeZine 
A hard hitting poem Jamie… so much to ponder, how much of this sadness and helplessness is of our own making… Strong voice in this one… one I keep reading! 🙂
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Thanks, Diane, for reading and sharing your thoughts.I’m glad it found a place with you.
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powerful words and images, Jamie… it’s so hard to reconcile these ideas with the non-duality of creation, and to try to make sense of the light and the dark… my challenge is to try to give up making sense and looking for a solution, and to accept it all… and that probably doesn’t make sense either…
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I suspect the only place we can really work is in ourselves.
Thanks for your comment, Valarie.
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Jamie. I am so grateful for these word this morning. The very much “ring true” for me! Thank you.
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How sad I find inhumanity. And yet we pass through these gates one by one uncovering the truth.
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And isn’t it amazing how well we are able to concoct our gods to fit our own needs and desires? This is a great challenge to any sort of fundamentalist mind-set. And the poem on your other blog will haunt me today.
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Indeed the gods serve all those purposes for humankind and justification for acts taken.
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A very powerful piece, Jamie. As always, you are thoughtful, and thought-provoking.
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