stock weighing in on the Civil War……

Where Are You Going, My People?

Friday, January 26, 2024 11:23

Where are you going, my people?
Where does your path lead you
Through the errors of this confused time,
Where brother betrays brother,
And mothers abandon their children,
That they perish in the swamp of the gutter;

Where men forget,
That women, the beloved,
Are still something sacred.
Where are you going, my people?
Where does your path lead you
Through false riches and splendor?

Fat and dumb, you drive through noise and lust,
Without looking for the day
And the high heaven,
For the forests that yet remained,
And the fields that fed you faithfully
Throughout the generations.

Where are you going, my people,
Between recklessness and doom?
Have you forgotten what your fathers and ancestors built,
Loved and ennobled,

My people, what has been held the highest since time immemorial
Among gods and men: Loyalty, honor, love —
Not the enemy, how could he have done this —
Only you yourselves could have denied these things
And so scornfully crushed them.

Where are you going, my people?
You worship lies,

And raise them to your altars,
In their name you betray your best:
The deaths of your sons, the tears of your mothers,

The burning need
Of your homelands’ fate.
Burning with shame, even strangers blush,
That you have so deeply
Forgotten yourselves!

― Ursel Peter