The Cost of a Head
Abby Kesington 1979 (Lagos)
Heads sprawled everywhere...
Small heads, big heads,
Women’s heads, children’s heads,
Forming a pyramid of sorrow.
Eyes barely shut,
Tears of blood streaking down
Ruddy cheeks of infants
Who will never see tomorrow.
“Off with their heads!” they chant.
“They took a thousand of ours,
We must take ten thousand of theirs,” they vow.
“Starve them till heads drop
like rotten fruits from a mustard tree!
What audacity, to lay siege and kidnap!” they mutter in unison.
“In reprisal, we’ll blockade in self-defense,
Prevent any aid till they perish.
Bomb the borders till heads float
In bloody rivers of desolation!
“They flaunt, with impunity, the laws of war,
As heads begin to drop at the catastrophic threshold of starvation.
Heads of states, in confusion, play politics,
Jostling to bring peace to the banks of war,
Vetoing and counter-vetoing the reckless violations of human rights.
Heads keep rolling into the Jordan...
Big ones, small ones,
Civilian heads, in shallow graves,
Their stench a perfume of horror,
As the world watches on,
Weighing the value of one head over another.
About this poem
It is a poignant and harrowing poem that delves into the devastating impacts of conflict and the cyclical nature of violence. It vividly portrays the dehumanization and senseless loss of life in war, with a particular focus on the plight of civilians
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Written on May 23, 2024
Submitted by Abbykesington on May 25, 2024
- 1:02 min read
- 365 Views
Quick analysis:
| Scheme | XAABXXXB XXXXX CXXXC DCXDX CXXEXE |
|---|---|
| Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
| Characters | 1,111 |
| Words | 209 |
| Stanzas | 5 |
| Stanza Lengths | 8, 5, 5, 5, 6 |
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"The Cost of a Head" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Jul 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/188238/the-cost-of-a-head>.
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