We Do The Math

by aminutewithmichael

The arithmetic of atrocities,
who does that math,
counting lives like
piles of cordwood destined
for the funeral fire.

Are atrocities algebraic,
x plus y plus Time equals
a mathematical formula
for the horror and traumas
we have inflicted.

Do we count with our fingers,
with our toes,
with an abacus,
slide ruler,
calculator or computer?

Math is the constant,
counting the rolling heads,
the bodies buried under
heaps of other dead bodies,
neatly accounted for.

For History needs its numbers,
to show who won,
who lost,
the cost,
the wages of sin.

The ridged, cold
numbers; orderly and
succinct, filed and
stamped, in long
symmetrical rows of carnage.

We can put a price on it,
a number can be affixed,
we know how to do it,
we’re practiced
and very good at math.

We do the Math.