A Time to Sit Down and Rise Up

The Doomsday Clock from the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.

Sit down Babylon, beside Greece and Rome and Mongolia
We had enough of Napoleon, France, enough of Hitler, Germany
Stay seated Britain, sit down America, be cool Japan
Stay calm Russia, understand the fine balance you’re about to upset China
Keep your finger off the button North Korea, calm down Middle East.

It is time to sit down and rise up
But who and when and where?
Sit down oh you powerful
Rise up oh you poor
Listen to the voice of the Lord.

Rise up Africa from the bottom, from the bottom of your hearts
with your gift of Truth and Reconciliation
Revive justice – not juntas, South America
Don’t squander your enormous wealth on yourself North America
Rise up Asia with a gentle beauty.

It is time to sit down and rise up
But who and when and where?
Sit down oh you powerful
Rise up oh you poor
Listen to the voice of the Lord.

Trade places in the world but not empires.
Don’t mimic each other’s worst tendencies
Don’t leverage away your compassion
Share, give, sit down and listen
Listen to each other, listen to yourselves.

It is time to sit down and rise up
But who and when and where?
Sit down oh you powerful
Rise up oh you poor
Listen to the voice of the Lord.

Don’t let outrageous injustice define
more outrageous acts of blind retribution
Let new memories of your best
replace old grudges of retaliation
Don’t piss in your wells or on others.

It is time to sit down and rise up
But who and when and where?
Sit down oh you powerful
Rise up oh you poor
Listen to the voice of the Lord.

Sit down white man; you’ve done enough for a millennium
from which we all have to heal and undo
Stay calm industrialists and developers
Sit down colonizers, old and new, and reconcile
Be at peace you who would take and steal and cheat.

It is a time to sit down and rise up
But who and when and where?
Sit down oh you powerful
Rise up oh you poor
Listen to the voice of the Lord.

For Remembrance Day 2016