There are things we kept secret after the war
The things that could hurt, we hid and concealed.
as culprits escaped, we’re closing the door
for ever their crimes will stay unrevealed
There are things we kept secret – too painful to say
The criminal deeds we buried beneath
now searching in vain, it’s hidden in clay
and lies can be nurtured as flowery wreaths
There are things we kept secret and now it’s too late
as lies become truths and forgotten are sins
and rising again xenophobia hate
when all that will matter is color of skin
alas in our world hear the marching of boots
democracy dies as we’re killing its roots
Picture from Wikimedia commons
Lately it seems so much that is going in the wrong in our world. When imaginery garden with real toads asks us to write poetry to include the sentence
There are things we kept secret after…
I did try to follow an evil rhythm of things that are happen when we are looking for simplistic solution and giving up on the complexity of democracy. Maybe every generation has to win democracy back..?
Also linked to Poetry Pantry…
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March 30, 2014
Björn Rudbergs writings 
Very, very good writing, Bjorn. The rhythm worked so well for the marching of boots. Things have to get better, don’t they?
Alas.. at the moment it seems to get worse.. we vote nazis into the parlaments all over the world.. only reaction seems to be fighting in the streets.. we need a word of reason.. but it’s quenced and burned with Molotov coctails… hmm…
Bjorn, I just wrote a poem that falls right in line with your thoughts. It had a picture of Heinrich Himmler as the inspiration:
The Evil that Men Do
Evil that evil men do is nothing new.
It is to be expected by those who gnaw
At power to the bone to satisfy the need
To make the weak pay for being weak.
Always it seems to be circumstance
And chance that let the hardened hearted
Slowly climb from one hate to another
Over hidden bones at first and later
Manifest in public their desire feed
On the fear and hate of others not so bold.
Their evil is not unnoticed by the world
But is allowed to entertain itself as free
Whenever better men refuse to speak up
With determination to put a stop to it early.
No, the evil will always be who they are
Abiding by what laws they pick and choose
And the weak will always be the weak
Not to be preyed upon but protected.
True evil is the evil that men do when
In spite of conscience they keep distance
And decide there is nothing they will do
Until evil begins scratching at their door.
>KB
Yes we let the evil thrive in the neglect … in the our constant ignorance.. and maybe just being cowards…
its a scary thing,
to hide away the truth and pretend that all is well
in the after without ever really addressing the issues
it leaves things hanging on that eventually find the light
of day and destroy any new trust earned…
I’m afraid we are looking for simple solutions .. and whenever that’s done we know that in the end we will end in totitalarian solutions.
Nice work Bjorn – bra jobbat Bjorn 🙂
Tack så mycket.. 🙂
I loved the repetition of “there are things we kept secret after . . . ” which added weight to this thought provoking piece. Is it too simplistic a goal to wish everyone could live and love one another without war?
I think it might be to simplistic.. but it lies at the core of the solution…
I am always thrilled to read your contribution to our Sunday mini-challenge, and there is certainly nothing ‘mini’ about this examination of war and its aftermath on the psyche. What you say is very true – after every conflict, society must win back democracy, which itself is a flawed system of government these days, though we cling to it in the face of the alternatives.
I think searching simple solutions to complex promblem is the big problem.. and that we do in democracy with undemocratic values.
This so well done and so very, very true.
Thank you ..
the hiding game seems to be in vogue everywhere..and aggression……
the couplet is a sad reminder to that….
I think that what we are seeing today are the first glimpses of worse things to come…
I really, really like this and relate to it. War is in my opinion the greatest evil on earth.
alas we can never deal with the aftermath.. and there lies the root to the next war-
I can hear the boots. And the secrets kept after war – my uncle served in WWII, and would never speak of war. His nature was sensitive and I think he could not bear the things he had seen. Really potent writing, my friend.
alas never speaking of it makes the rebirth of totalitarian ideas seems a viable option to the weaknesses of democracy.. alas alas.
very powerful poem, touching and goes straight to the core.
Thank you.. this was an important matter to get of my chest.
Love the rhyme and rhythm here, and repetition serves you well – both as phrase, and for the subject matter at hand.
We march to destroy and then wear smiles that the secrets we left behind don’t matter…powerful piece!!
Bjorn, you echo my own feelings (and yes, these were the kind of secrets in my poem as well) how the evil that war brings is somehow never only as obvious as it looks, how it corrodes the soul of both winner and loser, how lies became truth to provoke people into hate, and how they come true again as the victor writes the history books. I couldn’t agree with you more here, in this resonant, straight-talking piece.
And I see the signs every day in our newspapers.. the return of cold war and nazis.. religious wars.. bringing back the crusaders ,,, so sad…
Our two poems occupy the same territory, Björn!
Nice sonnet Bjorn. You hit a delicate topic head on. The flowers of todays truth grow from yesterdays lies.
Painful marching boots echoing in the heart…
There is, of course, a terrible cost, when powerful regimes seek to exert or extend their power. But that cost (brutality, persecution, murder, the subjugation of human rights, and so on and so on) is systemically minimized and/or hidden, so that: the repugnant ideologies the powerful invoked to exert or extend their power appear less abhorrent. In effect – time and secrecy – sanitizes (at less, somewhat) the cost. Throw in ignorance, prejudice and intolerance, economic instability and (of course) blind greed – and the stage is set. Chilling!
I loved a lot about this piece: “lies can be nurtured as flowery wreaths” – a haunting and indelible line of poetry.
Every generation does seem to have to learn for itself. To ignore history is to repeat it, so they say.
Coal (Fireblossom)
Whew, Bjorn…that is profound. I can hear the marching of boots. They echo, unfortunately, through every generation. So much does not change. Thanks for taking part in Poets United Poetry Pantry!! Your words resonate deeply with me today.
very apt poem for the times we live in… as long as I remember there have been boots marching somewhere in this world…
History is always written with a bias from the winner. The whole truth of WW2 is still be uncovered to this day. Man has been at war since Cain and Abel…tis the nature of the beast to kill and struggle for supremacy..
there are evil things that we hide during and after wars ~ yesterday I read about the unearthing of jewish concentration camps during WW2 ~ grim write and i also like this:
lies can be nurtured as flowery wreaths
happy Monday ~
Powerful!
This is a good sonnet (I think it is a sonnet?) and it tells about fear that we have, as history seems to repeat itself. Well done!
Hey Bjorn– there is certainly a goosestep march going on here in the rhythms and so much is hidden–it is so difficult–people do not like history thrown in their face–but they also want to oversimplify it and ignore it. I’m not sure if this is different today, only, of course, our mechanisms for destruction are pretty powerful. K.
Bjorn – the words said and unsaid hold a strong message. If only man would heed the warning and listen to the boots in the distance.
Oh so true. Project Paperclip…an evil program where the US covertly brought Nazis into the US after WWII. Somehow Werner von Braun came to be head of our NASA and no one blinked an eye. How does that happen? Chilling write. Well done. Maybe too well done.
The rhythm works really well to reinforce your words – I see armies marching and chanting.
I know that many who fought in wars in the past wouldn’t speak of things they’d seen. Of course, now we can see some of these things on TV. It’s terrible, but people forget and keep making the same mistakes. There will always be wars because of greed and pride and the other faults that haunt human nature. That shouldn’t stop peace-loving people from speaking out though. Good poem, Bjorn.