Holes in the Dark

Oh, another uncomfortable truth—
War brings creation as destruction.

Shiva, Shiva, is that really you?
War’s just your local accelerant,

Some catalysts, sprays of gasoline,
Added to the ongoing process

Of change, which, while always uneven,
Remains everywhere continuous.

Those horsemen of the apocalypse,
Like each of us, all have their doubles—

A quartet for the society’s world,
Mass plagues, famines, wars, and pestilence,

Redoubled in each small person’s world
Of injuries, debts, acquaintances—

While the greater, real, inhuman world
Burns holes in the dark fires don’t trouble.