This is a snapshot in history,
a cold day in mid December,
in the year twenty-twenty four
and civilisation is so last season.

There are three major conflicts
happening in the world today.
No! Not conflicts. Wars!
In Sudan, in Gaza, in Ukraine.
All have been eaten by savagery,
cruelty, pain and despair.
But they overshadow the others.
Stories of suffering yet to come.

In Afghanistan women have been banned
from attending college to train as midwives.
Trained midwives are forbidden to work.
There are no male midwives in Afghanistan.
Women's suffering is yet to come.

In Iraq there is a new government marriage law.
It is now perfectly legal for adult men
to wed girls as young as nine years old.
More or less legalising child abuse.
Children's suffering is yet to come.

And yet if all these wars were to stop
there will still be many more wars.
There will still be savagery and pain.
There will still be cruelty and despair.
There will still be pregnant women and pre-pubescent brides
screaming for help in the long dark nights.
And nobody will lift a finger to help.
Their suffering is yet to come.

So why are we allowing ourselves to slide,
to fall, to regress, to return to Mediaeval barbarism?
Is this our destiny?
Or is this...
Our suffering yet to come.

i tried to make myself perfect for you
but love never bled the way i did