Copyright (C) 2002 by L.M. Wong
Dommy dominaeprimus@yahoo.com
By DOM
The ancient magistrate is having lunch at noon and these are
our attempts at capturing his thoughts in the midst of dining.
Thoughts are expressed in both verse and prose form.
Take this morsel by morsel.
FIRST MORSELWe wish an end to war with promises and hopes of peace. We wish for peace ,weprepare for war. We threaten peace of others with war. We rouse ourselves with thecry to arms. In peace or war we are restless. In peace we amuse ourselves by sparringand wargames .In war we sing our lamentations of peace.What are we ? A warlike race intent on keeping an empire with abundance .At thesame time advance in all directions with our might.The horns of bulls are never far from another warring bull?s tips. When reins areloosened, gates thrown wide ,beasts lunge forth and lock horns again.Mars. Venus. Ares. Aphrodite. Their temples are extremes. We invoke their benison atvarious stages of life.Nature. Choice. Reason. They hatch outcome. We?re capable of breathing life forceand personify the two exorbitant passions. There is another passion but its sedatenesshardly qualifies it for that intense term. It is more an affliction. We are within rangeof it too. This frigid indifference.
SECOND MORSEL
All will have their day. The thwarted, triumphant. The Gods ,their final say. All will
be, whatever they may be. What soothsayers are privy to ,what the oracle withholds.
The gods intervene, they alter destinies. It all rests on the will of the Being who wields
the armoury of Nature and reins of the universe.
Miltiades and Alexander crushed the might of armed Persian pride. Marathon and
Salamis undid Darius and Xerxes.
Patroclus wasn?t meant to sack Troy. Struck by Apollo, slain by Hector.
Menelaus could have slain Paris but his sword broke. Paris though defeated was
spared by Aphrodite who returned him to Trojan lines.
Pandarus? arrow injured Agamemnon . That one arrow aggravated the wounds of
Greeks. Troy was meant to fall .
Poseidon shielded Aeneas from the furious sword of Achilles. Rome was meant to be.
THIRD MORSELView of evening and morning are crowning achievements of nature?s light andshadow play. The rest of the day is a hiatus between splendour. We need to livethrough and endure the rest of it like life. Between glory and triumph, there are thosesimple times which we seldom note or cherish. Times of neither sadness or gladness.Existential. Not piquant vividness of acute alertness.
FOURTH MORSELTo bear the fruits of victory and to have the muscle of vanquished people, the statehas to continually nurture a nation of courageous loyal citizens. Conquest has to bemaintained, watched by ever vigilant sentries and keepers. The state neither needsnor reveres idlers whose business is to indulge themselves in Bacchanalian excesseson account of their ancestry to heroes of preceding generations.
Lawmakers duel with wit, logic and words while the war machine duels with toolsof the army .Laws made or repealed as fearless scions fight for aspirations of agreater state.To safeguard the abundance of far flung regions brought for the enjoyment of thehomeland. Have the names of conquerors venerated by the conquered people.Have kings, queens and chieftains of unknown lands pay tribute to the imperialstandard.
FIFTH MORSELTwo friends. They talk of things past, of bets against each