The New Barbarians
Once they came with sword and flame,
Beyond the walls, beyond the pale…
Now they scroll and share and claim
That expertise will always fail.
No longer tribal, painted, wild,
They gather in the comment threads,
Where reason dies and truth's defiled
By those who trust what viral spreads.
They wave the flags, rehearse the lore,
Demand the past be back again
Complexity's what they abhor,
Prefer fake news from simpler men.
The museums stand like empty tombs,
While online prophets preach their lies,
And in these bright, connected rooms
The death of learning multiplies.
So history groans beneath the weight
Of truths ignored, of books unread…
We craft again the Roman fate,
Where fools are crowned and scholars bled.
A thousand screens will light the dark
Where once the lamp of reason shone…
And from that glow, the telltale mark:
A world that's lost what made it known.
- UpsilonA