Sturmbannführer

I think I am a Nazi.

I killed a hundred flies today.
I froze them on ice,
lined them up one by one,
and beheaded them;
with a new, half-divided blade.
I needed those heads:
to isolate protein
to do an experiment.
The Endlösung to publish a paper.

And that would bring me
- fame, glory, eternity.
I say that it is only my duty
for the advancement of science.

The Schutz-Stafel guard also said that
at the doors of Mengele's laboratories.

I think I am a Nazi.

I kill because I do not like.
mosquitoes, cockroaches, ants.
Disgusting vermin I call them
like the Aryan called the Semite.

I swat them, crush them under my foot
until blood, limbs, heads, hearts
are all indistinguishable organum.
I spray them with pyrethrin
with glee, maybe even aplomb
just like a Sturmbannführer
putting down the Warsaw uprising.
They come into my house,
(built upon theirs).
why should I tolerate that?

I think we are all Nazis.

The wise ones say that
an area the size of Belgium
is chainsawed every day
in the Amazon rain-forest.
Hundreds of species go extinct
because we need lebensraum.
Our führers say it is needed:
because we need land for development
and development is good for us.
Our children come first,
that is humanity.

So I shall not blame myself
and feel guilty for anything.
I am only doing my duty
and my bit for humankind
by the advancement of science.
Thus I am human, humane.

I am not a Nazi.