Regeneration Poem by Mary Champion

REGENERATION
24/6/2009.

From the Somme
see them come.
From Auschwitz and Belsen,
from Stalinist purges,
from Cambodia
Rwanda
Ethiopia
Sudan.
Dark Heart of Africa
Congo, Biafra.
Far East and Middle East
Europe and Asia,
the sad slaughtered millions,
the sick starving innocents.
Those who enslaved us
and those we enslaved.
The slayers; the slain;
the victims of torture
and those who took pleasure.
The outcasts.
the lepers.
See them come,
born anew.
New bodies; old souls.
The lost generations
now found in our midst.
We can't understand them -
their anger,
rebellion!
Their mindless pursuit
of meaningless thrills.
But these are our children
and we, their descendants.