Poetry and poësie

Knowing history can’t change it

The history professor, May Day,
was not afraid of a murderer
behind her arras;
she did not have an arras.

She was unconcerned about the atrocities
Sultan Mehmed had in store
for Constantinople, once the city had fallen,
since all that was far in the past.

Professor Day did not worry
about the punishment that could be visited
on Galileo,
since he recanted.
She just shook her head
at Marie Curie’s insistence
on working with radio active materials,
since that scientist had already passed away.

The professor did worry a little
about the pre-Christian era Greeks
who argued and clamoured in the agora,
drinking young wine and eating olives;
what if they had not inspired democracy?
Perhaps we would have a better
form of government now?