Poem-A-Day #173 : On This Day

On This Day

.
          Alfred Russel Wallace published his theory of evolution today
                    alongside Darwin's first findings -

Who remembers Wallace -
               getting to be forgotten is perhaps unfair -

History is quick -
a fog rolling in that conceals
                                        then masks
                                                  then disintegrates -

.
In Edmond Oklahoma a man stormed a post office
and killed 14 of his co-workers
this is the birth of the phrase 'going postal'

A response to tragedy
humor within the darkness
and his name is probably not on the tip of your tongue

And that is probably alright

Getting to be forgotten is perhaps justice -

.
Khalid ibn al-Walid defeated Byzantium

          The most decisive victory in military history

Getting to be forgotten is perhaps terrible perhaps alright
          it is perhaps chance that this victory opened the world to Islam
                    through conquest

Is history ever not through conquest

.
                    There is a part of us that finds that information
               perhaps
                                        too obvious
                                        too hind-sight

          History is a weather pattern out across the ocean
          that never reaches a shore without consequences

Khalid ibn al-Walid Mosque
Homs, Syria