I wrote my first poem at fifteen in 1964. What prompted me to write it was an incident I saw playing out on my TV taking place in New York City. A ninety three year old woman had been evicted from her apartment and while sitting on the steps outside it surrounded by all her worldly possessions. Other people were coming up and taking what they wanted. Having no regard for the human being sitting there in tears and who now, had no home. Instead they were adding their own brand of insult to injury. Pilfering through her few, precious possessions, the pieces of her broken world, they ignored her anguish, her pain and her great suffering as if she bore not one shred of human decency! The last thing I saw was her trying to keep someone from taking her birdcage with her bird screeching. I was horrified that no one stopped to help her. That no one during those very obviously tragic moments in her life could see her as a human being! And all I could think was that Man's Inhumanity to Man was certainly our greatest tragedy not only to man but to God. And so, I wrote this poem and added it to a paper I was writing on the Civil War. Somehow it seemed to belong there and to suit the topic!

The Civil War, it seems to me, is still being fought on a daily basis in all directions but with no clearly defined protagonists but, plenty of antagonists. Mr. Reardon, my history teacher, loved the poem and I got an A++ on it. However, it stood alone, as a singular piece of work
for quite some time.

What Then?

Speak of mans, inhumanity to man
And his senseless and agonizing wars.

Speak of his innate obsession with self
And his perpetual pursuit of cause.

Speak of his failings, examine his hurts.
Study reveals the root of all discord,
The world is led by the unperceiving,
Vision when blunted, a rapier sword!

In this world of war and anxiety
Man's future and being are so pending.
His destiny appears destruction bound -
With the failings of men un-amending.

In the ultimate moment of destruction
When the existence of the world does cease
And man has passed into oblivion
What then of humanity and peace?

February 23, 1964

By

Lady LaMythica (Linda A. Copp)

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The Composition you are listening to is  Diablast1b  by ? I have been unable to locate this artist but will keep trying to give him the attribution he deserves! His midi was found at a popular MIDI site back in the day! It disappeared and I could not find him or his work elsewhere but the composition is beautiful!