The dawn sky is brightening
as the morning star fades
The steam from my morning tea rises
fogging the window that i stare through
And I wonder.
I wonder about mankind
Then realise in the word itself
Is the answer
Man is rarely kind.
I wonder about our world leaders
How they are nearly all men
and why they feel it’s ok
to murder so many for so little
I wonder how they sleep at night
or if evil sleeps at all
they never look exhausted
like the innocent they target
I wonder if somehow they’ve forgotten
who they kill and why
They’re people you fuckers
just trying to get through the day
I wonder why Trump never looks short of a meal?
Putin and Zelensy?
Netanyahu and Khamenei?
All well fed
So they can murder the unfed.
And I wonder if they’re human at all.
Mankind my arse
more like Manunkind
men by name only
killers by their deeds
Even hell won’t welcome them.
*************
Manunkind
The dawn creeps up, the sky grows pale,
The morning star retreats—
I cradle tea, watch vapour veil
The window and the streets.
And as the world begins to stir,
A question haunts my mind:
What hope is there for humankind
When man is seldom kind?
I ponder those who rule the lands,
Their faces hard as stone—
All men, with blood upon their hands,
Yet never starved or lone.
They send the hungry off to die
For causes mean and small—
And sleep, while mothers wake and cry,
If evil sleeps at all.
Their eyes are sharp, their bellies full,
Their hearts are cold as lead—
They never look exhausted, though
They feast while others dread.
Trump, Putin, Zelensky too,
Netanyahu, Khamenei—
They dine and plot, while children rue
Each dark and bitter day.
I wonder if they count the cost,
Or if they’ve lost the thread—
Forgotten every life that’s lost,
Each nameless, numbered dead.
You bastards, they are people too,
Just trying to get by—
But power blinds, as power will,
And mercy runs dry.
So call it “mankind” if you must,
But I have seen the lie—
It’s “Manunkind” who rules the dust,
While innocents still die.
Men by name, but not by deed,
Their souls beyond recall—
Even hell would turn away
Such monsters, after all.
