Trilemma by Brenden W. O'Dell published on 2024-02-15T00:13:10Z You can call me Ahab, But my name is Ibrahim. To one son, I gave the West. The other stumbled east. The Western to the brother said: "I'll kill you where you stand. Not with guns and rockets but by poisoning all your land." It's no farewell to arms, But goodbye, satirical teeth. We're just gumming on the scenery, Never digging underneath. He's pulling at his bootstraps, Ole Münchausen in the mire. Someone tell the Baroness, We need to get him higher. It's the pilgrim's promise that we'll never get ahead. We only measure progress By counting all the dead. A bureaucratic nightmare Selling souls for a song. All they do is stand still, The silent hooded throng. (Interlude) The old moon's being cradled, In the new moon's skinny arms. They're clutching one another Through the sounding of alarms. And Ishmael and Hagar Both went down to the well. They're pulling up ambrosia, From where seven ewes once fell. Then Ben fucking Zion Wrote a few mid-evil books. Five Revisionist histories Giving Arabs dirty looks. Now his son's gone and done it He's declared a goddamn war. All those stories that they told him while he stared at the décoré. With the heroes on one side, And the Enemy on the other. All Romantic tele-visions Of a powerless, sad mother. So goodnight sweet, young Yani Your revenge will come soon And we're all gonna pay for it Watching thirty thousand swoon (Interlude) So many ayatollahs Ladling purulent water To the damned and the innocent. No one gets imprimatur. They gulp, and they choke. For Allah's will be done. All our doubt will be punished, With eternal setting suns. So Shalom Shalom Shalom And Salam Salam Salam. Peace will be my white whale But for you, it's still a bomb, Dropped from an unending heaven Where the chosen few do stir Raining judgment down upon a land That so many once called Ur. Worship not for false idols, Or historical titles. Not the man in the sky, Or his tiny little bibles. If peace shall be had For the sane and the mad, We must all cease our fire For the Baron to climb higher.