History Lessons

History Lessons

The world is growing older, people come
along here all the time and have to learn
the lessons from what's gone before, each time,
as though its something new this time around.

It's all the same old stuff, each time the time
returns to dance its ageing dance again.
It looks so new to eyes all seeing it
this time, for the first time, the tale gets told.

There's nothing new, and nothing more to learn
and yet, the lessons never really learnt,
what's gone before is never understood,
as though we only learn these lessons well

by our direct experience and not
by seeing how the previous generations
all stumbled, falling in those muddy fields,
and fighting for the same lost causes, still,

and for the same dull visions as before,
while we prepare to fight for our mistakes,
delusions and so much we need to believe
to keep us marching on until it ends
and then we need believe no more lost dreams.

 

[Books by David Hadley are available here (UK) or here (US).]