The white men from empire were the invasive species of the Middle East. They charged into a new habitat and forced the native species into a pantheon of suppression. Winston Churchill referred to the Palestinians as dogs, and followed the statement by declaring “A stronger race, a higher grade race, a more worldly wise race has come in and taken their place.”
A dog is simpler than a human, therefore not to be trusted in managing themselves. But wild dogs, wolves, thrive. It’s the domesticated dog that develops the cancer of his master, the ulcers of his owner. The wild wolf has instinct sharp as a blade and knows its territory intimately. The domesticated dog has been made an accessory to man.
Imperial power knew the Palestinian “dogs” were in fact wolves, impossible to domesticate, so better to annihilate. Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir referred to them as grasshoppers. Something he could crush under the sole of his boot. Whether labeled as a dog, grasshopper, or beast, the wild animal belongs to the land.
There’s no need for the perverse progress of development if the land gives, and it does. Bright juicy citrus was exported to the Mediterranean Coast. Plump black olives freckled the tree's arms. Long delicate bodies of gold wheat rippled in the wind. Barley laid itself into pearly fields. Empire converted the flowering state to a confined cage.
Animal nature was a threat because the animal only takes as much as he needs. The animal is free-range. What animal has the white man of empire been? One that is invasive, intrusive, and unjust. In the animal kingdom, is the apex predator more worthy because he kills or because nobody attempts to kill him?
This apex predator has turned on himself, he is his own victim. Victim of his firearms, rogue drones, and nuclear bombs. An echo chamber of violence reverberates.
He remains chronically oblivious to the other. He’s an orphan to the language of the lilies. He’s severed from the embrace of solar warmth and the generosity of light. He’s divorced from the pack and abandoned his kin. He’s an isolated entity in a desert of depravity.
Every land he invades will never be enough. He will never know fullness in his self-induced hunger. He will make others starve with him, and struggle for him.
The sugared stars signal the way home, but all he sees is black. For the man blind to his nature, has lost his humanity.
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