How far back would you go…

Eighteen months
will take us back
before the horror began

Thirty-six
will return us
to before the event
that set it in motion

Eight hundred and sixty-four
will land us
in the post-war glow of victory
before the bastard child is born

Eight hundred and seventy-three
will give us a final chance
to make sure the evening’s romantic endeavors
are spectacularly unsuccessful

Nine hundred and forty-two
will help us find
an upstanding citizen brave enough
to speak now and never hold his peace

Two thousand seven hundred and nine
and we can prevent the man
who sired the modern spawn of evil
from ever being conceived

Assuming, of course
one of us has an ancestor
who’s ruthless enough to do the job
and speaks German

(12 June 2018)