Atlas Tripped

“I think we should stay in Europe but all the politicians who destroyed this country should leave.”

-          Katerine Apostolaki, 20, Student

Fire reflects off of shields held high

as soldiers march like Marathon remembered.

But they grip shields of polycarbonate

instead of ones made of iron and bronze.

They are no Spartans, though valiant they may be,

for there is no glory to be found here.

No Simonides lives now to write an epigram

for the epitaph of a nation.  Besides,

the coffers are too bare to spare

the (useless) coin needed to commission

such a project.  Oh, woe to the west

where anyone can be at the scene

of the dust and the smoke and the rage

simply by turning on their phone

and googling a nightmare half a world

away.  It is possible to look but impossible

to see.  As in an age long past

there are three hundred who stand

against an onslaught numbered

in the billions (of euros).  Three hundred

representatives attempting to preserve

posterity (and posterior) with austerity.



(http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-news/amid-flames-greek-parliament-approves-crucial-austerity-bill/article2335517/?utm_medium=Feeds%3A%20RSS%2FAtom&utm_source=World&utm_content=2335517)