Ode to Guernica –

An Ekphrastic Poem

 

 

Wide-eyed bull,  grieving woman, dead child,

a gaping wound in a horse’s side,

a stigmata on a slain soldier’s hand.

 

All victims of a swastika onslaught.

Just a vestige of the horrors of war,

in the Basque town of Guernica.                                                                                                                                     

 

Junker bombers killed women, children,

forcing Picasso to paint a classic,

elemental black and white: not colour.

 

Guernica adopted as a peace symbol,

denied by the Axis powers of evil,

epitomised by Eichmann, Auschwitz                                                                                                       

 

Possible to ever hope to smash this mould?

Angry Yellow vests in Paris, hate crimes

Brexit split by turmoil in Parliament,                                                                                      

 

Fifty countries persecute religion.

Outbreaks of knife crime on our streets.

Can we overcome this cycle of despair,                                                                         

 

Let’s try the brotherhood of man again

Let’s try the foolish, to love our enemies.

Guernica! Guernica! Guernica!