Diamonds for Emily
Will you take these diamonds to hold dear?
Will my love you hear?
Do you understand the design?
The path for us to find
Will you wear them for eternity?
Do you understand their immortality?
They were here;
When man first sparked fire
When logic Plato first inquired
When mighty Sparta fell
When Rome expanded and excelled
When the British Empire rose
When Asia, Polo first exposed
When Hitler committed atrocities
When Allies rained fire on Axis cities
When Mother Teresa rudely her kindness handed
When Rome the Hun demanded
When Saddam gassed his people
When Baghdad crushed the N.Y. steeples
When ninety-three saved the D.C. peoples
While N.Y.’s finest met their death in falling concrete rafters
While Firemen raised their final ladders
While disco raged in cocaine parlors
When the anti-establishment established – those punk-rockers
While King led Jews with Africa’s sons
When Rubin Carter’s life was expunged
When crack fanned the Compton flame
When the cocaine masters rose to reign
When Columbine became a gunfire stain
When little boys were to blame
When Charlemagne engaged the Islamic horde
When he baptized half of Europe with the sword
When Cortés conquered the Aztecs just for fun
When the day their zenith held the sun
While metalheads sang sweet love ballads
When ex-hippies charged millions for tofu salads
While samurai businessmen conquered the land
When the Kensai witnessed Two Heavens fade to sand
When the Wal-Mart Binbōgami made its stand
When Ma’s and Pa’s surrendered to the corporate hand
When Baltimore unleashed Oprah upon the world
When AIDS threw homosexuals back in closets curled
While nuclear toys were built for man’s protection
When Russians sought the capitalist deception
While little boys trusted Catholic priests' holy hands
While impoverished missionaries died in foreign lands
When Andy’s bullwhips jammed artistic asses
While young girls swam in cum for porno masses
When football heroes played for billions
While the poor cheered them on, growing in the millions
When HGTV zombie masters rose to power
When interior designer witch-doctors ruled the home and shower
While silent heroes never made the hour
When Red Cross volunteers under bullets cowered
When gangland bullets entered children’s brains
While police and parents stood in vain
When William Gates gave Geeks autonomy
When cell phones extended man’s anatomy
When sex became an accepted hobby
While love became meaningless folly
When the promiscuous demanded not to be called whores
When marriages became financial wars
When OJ became the injustice drink
When Voltaire tried to make men think
When Cleopatra toyed with Alexander
While JJ served Kool-Aid in Guyana
When Poe died in the gutter
While Dali milked the artistic udder
While Enron executives played with dollars
While Churchill read the final hours
When Skylab fell from space
When Earnhardt drove his final race
While Jesus carried man’s cross
When Jimmy Baker cried in profit loss
When Chernobyl blew a hole through the sky
While Pee Wee pumped his meaty lie
While revolutions rose and fell
When principles were bought to sell
While politicians road the clown car round the ruckus
When everyone joined the worldwide circus
When I took my seat in the empty stands
While I sat and dreamed of ancient lands
When I thought of man’s heroic stands
While I mulled man’s sordid endless trials
When I realized my soul’s desires
When I realized I didn’t care for life’s poetry
When I understood what was most important to me
When I understood what I felt so purely
When for love I gave them truly.
~~~
Written 2007
Before giving the girl in this poem a diamond necklace, bewilderment cursed me for several days trying to write something meaningful to present with the gift. During this struggle, I reread Howl by Allen Ginsberg and watched an enormous number of documentaries inspiring this piece. She said she liked the poem, but I believe she enjoyed the jewelry more. She was not the first person to react this way but the last since I never gave poetry to anyone again. As much as I enjoy reading and writing poetry, believing it is something special, most people don't give a shit about it, which saddens me a bit.
