Where did all our Countries go?

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Walked to the edge of the world
staring into the Great Beyond
how have we come to this?
How do the world’s minion many
march in lockstep in goose-step
over the hills and far away
far beyond our hopes and fears
far beyond our imagined utopias
or dystopias
or myopias?

French furniture polish
may very well smell very nice
reassure us with olfactory recollections
of civilized normalcy
from the days when eggs
packed powerful nutritive punch
when pigs squealed as they were slaughtered
somewhere hidden in the village
where crows mutter in their murders
plotting dark deeds in foulsome labyrinths
in ways which ordinary decent folk
find shuddering,
for Evil is their middle name
and making us all slaves is their central aim.

Politics are paralysing.
Sickness endemic to such
harsh task masters
governing our every move
such that all are stillness
and with stillness
comes
death
given that resistance is futile
as Star Trek has so well taught us

though two little humble hobbits
stumbling around in the wild
might beg to differ.

I remember English country gardens
I remember large, dense and crisply juicy potatoes.
I remember Irish bacon and sausages
and Irish butter
and Scottish steel cut oats
fermenting in humble peasant kitchen drawers
slightly sour so ever fresh
good British real ale beer
the stars and stripes
battle-weary, waving in storm-crossed winds
defiant and somehow chipper
though streaked with the blood of
friends and enemies gripped in the same embrace
of glorious struggle.

A far cry from today’s collectively abject surrender.
Where did our people go?
Have we all marched down to oblivion
following the Pied Piper of MegaTech Trillionaires
now hell bent on injecting us all
with their poisons gone viral?

Nostalgia is for those who long for their past to return in glory.
We have forgotten our past and cannot even muster simple nostalgia.
We are the forgotten ones,
the hesitant ones,
the aimless ones,
the heartless ones,
the obedient ones,
the frightened ones,
the reasonable ones,
the subservient ones,
the confident ones,
the well-meaning ones,
the far-flung ones,
the exhausted ones,
the bankrupted ones,
the betrayed ones,
the puzzled ones,
the school-age ones
the retired ones
the gifted ones
the stupid ones
the loyal ones
the disloyal ones
the complacent ones
the compliant ones
the consenting ones
the questioning ones
the questioning ones
the questioning ones.

Where did all our countries go?

Sunday Dec 5 2021
Veracruz, Mexico