jericho

fall the walls of jericho
fall the walls of the alamo
fall the walls of guernica
they’re less history and
they’re more symbol sets
that’s how it always was

religion is a metaphor
property’s a legal fiction
a tithe’s the only benefit
found in a given benediction
but we kill anyway for symbols
kill anyway for the sake of conceits
we kill anyway for fairy tales
for old short-hand beliefs
we kill to act out the old plays
as the past’s Kabuki lingers
while God closes doors as a trick
to slam windows on our fingers

ten thousand short generations
from the caves and the trees
we wipe each other out because
for the old memetic ideologies
and retain ancient confections
that fed the empire-nations
but if you ignore the mythos
you’ll se
they were never civilizations
and neither are we

the old glories were just stories
of being civilized
to justify the money-blood
as long-drawn-out denial
that we’re all just mud
even the rich ones
especially the rich ones

fall the walls of jericho
they only sort of happened
for what it’s worth
history’s a mystery and
the lines you see on maps
are nowhere on the earth