The Horseman of War rides again
to bring down upon a peaceful land
apocalyptic destruction
as foretold in Revelations
after the fourth Seal opens
and Satan’s minions spew forth.
He comes riding on iron caissons
over the steppes of central Asia
crossing democratic borders
of clashing civilizations
as magma from volcanoes in the
tectonic clash of continental plates.
He threatens global holocaust
from nuclear weapons bristling
in fields of Russian memory
to avenge Western invasions of
of Teutonic Knights, Charles VIII, Napoleon
and German armies of Kaiser and Hitler
to redeem centuries of servility
once in the proletarian spirit of Marx
now claiming the spirit of Peter the Great
yet hiding naked tyranny
beneath the garb of motherland.
His faces is among thousands
looming in the dark smoke from
a thousand places scorched by the fire
of apocalyptic history
as the Soviet ghost arises
from the past as a renewed story
of tyrant terror over innocence
evil returning in endless sequence
ageless vanity of vanities
catastrophes of catastrophes.