A day sat by a telephone
That doesn’t ring,
A night without any wine;
Music of Venice,
Dreams of Rome,
The past is the future,
But why not now?

I

They said that the age of heroes is gone,
Epics are history and poetry of the past;
But I didn’t believe them.

They said that it was a new age,
An epoch of bottom lines and practicalities,
Where greed is virtue rather than vice,
Where prudence, integrity, and honor
Were to be admired, but not emulated.

II

It is a new world, a world of the highest bidder,
A brave new world. Abram sacrifices Issac on
The altar of greed, with the knife of his soul;
In Plouer-sur-Rance, church bells toll for
A proud fallen aristocrat.

In Shijiazhuang as in Hong Kong
3 days before Christmas, a woman is tried.
She saw no evil, and for the sins of others,
Some would have her hung.

III

A king is born, and the holy innocents die.

IV

“吾去岁中言事得罪，又不能逆道苟时， 为千古罪人也。”

V

But why, what evil hath Jesus done?
None.
Which is why he must die.

Si navicula
Iesus sit in, motus magnus
Perfundet non te.

If you get into
A kayak, expecting to
Get wet, you will not.

I did not believe
those who said it would rain, which
is why I got wet.