Once was, is again

[Arisztid]

((It was suggested that I post two new poems, one of them this one.  I also posted an old one called "The Forgotten People."))

I sit helpless, watching from across the water
As what I have predicted for so long
Unfolds slowly, a blossom of agony

I sit ranting futilely, watching from across the water
As sparks of hate catch flame
Fueled by governments and media

I sit in tears, watching from across the water
Knowing that these next couple of generations
Might be the last of an ancient people

I predicted what I’m watching now
I predict that all that will be left of us
Are a few straggling bands here and there

Economic and political upheaval
Hard to fix, to truly mend
Rroma - scapegoats already smashed down
Blame them for all the problems

Problems in our nations?
Misdirection, slight of hand
“LOOK AT THE GYPSIES, THE FILTHY GYPSIES
THE CAUSE OF ALL YOUR WOES”

The people, average everyday people
So easily led by government’s parlor tricks
Shout and chant
“BURN THE GYPSIES, TURN THE GYPSIES INTO SOAP!”

Rroma forced behind walls to live in segregated slums
Bring political gain
Rroma forced to live on toxic sites
Bring political praise

Policies echoing down from Nazi Germany
Widely cheered
Rroma not thought of as human
Normal

Italian sunbathers uncaring within yards
Of the corpses of two Rroma girls
Beatings, shootings, and more
Not a problem, they are just Gypsies

Makeshift camps bulldozed or firebombed
Rroma women sterilized without consent
Rroma shot dead in their homes
Its all good, they are just Gypsies

The Fronte Nationale from France
The Jobbic Party from Hungary
Slovenska Pospolitost from Slovakia
Three of many seeking our extermination

Politician’s words so carefully chosen
To infect hate in the average mind
These words rewarded by political gain
And goals achieved.

Infecting all who hear giving them someone to blame
One pointing finger becomes hundreds and thousands
From the elderly to the smallest children
Some who have never met, nor even seen a Rroma.

“We hate them,” “Get rid of them!”
Comes from the voices of these young
Such innocent voices spewing such hate
Just repeating what they have been fed

Stories told of Gypsies raping
Stories told of Gypsies brutalizing
Stories accepted fully, no effort to seek the truth
Pogroms, riots blaze with the cry to KILL THEM ALL

Stories later proven to be false
These confessions matter not
No consequence for the liars, no help for the Rroma
Known lies fuel hate as much as truth

My people easier to pummel and blame
Than economies and governments to fix
“See those filthy Gypsies! See how bad they are!”
Instead of “We have problems we caused”

What will happen when we are gone
And the problems still persist.
Who next will be the scapegoat
Who will bear the brunt?

O Porrajmos then
Hatred cleverly directed by Goebbels
To mend a nation’s problems
The real reason for it hidden.


O Porrajmos now
Hatred fueled by governments
To hide many nation’s problems
The real reason for it hidden

It happened then
It’s happening now

Once was, is again

©Proud Rromani, June 5th, 2012

Note: everything I wrote, other than direct mention of the WWII Porrajmos, came from very modern news. I can back up every single thing, including when 1000 people chanted “turn the Gypsies into soap.”

This is the tip of the iceberg.

Porrajmos is our word for the Holocaust. It means “the Devouring.”