A shout out to Raphael Lemkin,
Explicitly moved by
Armenian annihilation
To coin the word: GENOCIDE,
Back in 1943, or was it 1944?
You’d think he’d be sure,
Something that important,
The naming of things, after all,
Much more than an encoding;
A digital construct of the mind,
Wedding thought to language,
Marrying idea to its name.
GENOCIDE.
Which came first, word or deed?
Way to go, Raphael--
“Systematic and premeditated
Exterminations, within legal parameters,”--
You coined it.
You named it.
Giving voice to something
Better left un-said,
Better off un-thought of.