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Truth Streaked Across the Sky
Truth streaked across the sky
Alighting on a foreign strand,
Where politicians buried it
Beneath the lying sand.
The truth was stranger than the lies,
Too dazzling for the mind.
The leaders meant for it to die
In the land of the half-blind.
With gradual revealing tides,
Truth showed as life emerged.
Sand began to drift away,
By cleansing brine was purged.
The half-blind then became incensed
When truth had been revealed.
They rioted against the leaders
As if secrets were unsealed.
Liars someday must concede
When lies are proven wrong,
Or face the wrath of the half-blind
Lynched by the swelling throng.
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LTC Roy E. Peterson, US Army Military Intelligence and Russian Foreign Area Officer (Retired) has published more than 6,200 poems in 88 of his 112 books. He has been an Army Attaché in Moscow, Commander of INF Portal Monitoring in Votkinsk, first US Foreign Commercial Officer in Vladivostok, Russia and Regional Manager in the Russian Far East for IBM. He holds a BA, Hardin-Simmons University (Political Science); MA, University of Arizona (Political Science); MA, University of Southern California (Int. Relations) and MBA University of Phoenix. He taught at the University of Arizona, Western New Mexico University, University of Maryland, Travel University and the University of Phoenix.
The half-blind are being healed in larger and larger number thanks to truth-tellers like you.
And you! Bless you for the comment.
Thank you for this wonderful poem, Roy, which offers sharp insights into human nature and the apparent contentment so many of the “half blind” not to peer into a reality which might disturb their complacency. They would (and do) indeed riot when truth is exposed and they will do anything to preserve their false narratives. If Ignorance is bliss — it is an exceedingly dangerous bliss.
Do you really think liars will ever concede that they are wrong? Some, perhaps. But certainly not all. Some would rather die than concede. I think of Hitler in his bunker. Or some of the more fanatical Japanese who committed seppuku rather than concede an American victory in World War II, or others who spent years irrationally rejecting the truth of Japan’s defeat.
You are so right about those who defend the “false narratives.” Yet when truth is finally made apparent, by something such as a war, there are only a few left who are “diehards,” and the may indeed have to die hard.
Brian, your comment about the Japanese soldiers who remained in hiding on the islands where they were stationed long after the war ended stirred up memories. Tales of these intrepid holdouts were common in the 1950s and 60s, but many persons thought they were merely a legend.
Not so. The dedicated soldiers had no idea that the war had ended, and remained as secret survivalists on the islands, avoiding capture and waiting for relief that never came. In 1974, Hiroo Onoda emerged from the jungle, and later on so did Soichi Yokoi. The war had ended 29 years earlier, but these men had remained, very much like the Spartans at Thermopylae who held their hopeless position “obedient to orders.” They were loyal to their Emperor and to their military commanders.
When they finally put down their rusty and ammunition-less weapons, learning that the war was long over, they wept.
Ironically, when Onoda returned to Japan, he was utterly appalled by the degraded social and cultural changes in his beloved country, and soon afterwards he emigrated to the Japanese communities in Brazil.
Yoshio Yamakawa and Tsuzuki Nakauchi emerged in 2005, sixty years after the end of the war. Both men were in their eighties!
I think this would make for an excellent dramatic monologue, Brian — and think you are the one to do it. These men are not examples of fanaticism, but of soldierly obedience. They did not know that the war was over.
Joe, this is a very intriguing bit of inspiration. Thank you! Challenge accepted. It may be a little while before I get to it, but I’ll give it a shot.
Dr. Salemi, great contributory comments. I remember reading about the Japanese emerging from the Philippine forests. I agree Brian might be well suited to write a poem about this subject.
The poem works well in the abstract, Roy, as an address to those who might be half-blind (and we all have blind spots), but would prefer not to be caught off guard. It’s usually possible to increase our knowledge of the truth if we are alert to its signs and take an unprejudiced look into their meaning. That kind of “sign” is what you depict in the first line here.
I wonder whether you might have a hidden gospel allusion in that line. “As lightning comes out of the east and passes into the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be” [Matthew 24:27]. That verse introduces a passage foretelling that all the tribes of the earth shall mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and majesty. You have the half-blind rioting in a similar apocalyptic situation.
I would suggest that you put a comma or dash at the end of your next-to-last line, to make it clear that “lynched” applies to the lying leaders and not to the half-blind themselves.
Striking poem!
Excellent comments and you are right about the comma! Such an important little detail. That meaning certainly is my intention. If one of the staff reads this comment, please make the adjustment of the comma, as I am doing so on my final version for future use.
Excellent comments and you are right about the comma! Such an important little detail. That meaning certainly is my intention. If one of the staff reads this comment, please make the adjustment of the comma, as I am doing so on my final version for future use.