The Square Root of Beirut
written by: Elizabeth A Moroz
Ten men bending while they’re pretending to be near the end
A capitalist nightmare glares like rotten fruit
The square root of Beirut
No, it isn’t fair, so they’ll start to loot
The soldiers are just standing,
Older than the god damn moon landing
The Universe is constantly expanding
Modern society is too **** demanding
I’m handing you a guide to move
Disbanding you while you hide the groove
There’s a plan to prove
Lucifers hooves
I’m in the mood to break down barriers
My DNA is not a carrier
Of defective bio-alteration
Segregation of the sovereign nation
Heavenly elevations of thought, perspective, and contemplation
All universally and individually facing
It’s two seconds to midnight, and the greyhounds are racing
Interfacing gambling while the old timers are rambling
I’ll be handling things like a thoroughbred
As I navigate my way through this
State of constant dread
I keep thinking that maybe it’s all in my head
But once it’s done, it’s better that it’s all been said
While they’re lining up the bodies and cremating the dead
I’m overcome with melancholy and going straight back to bed
Fighting the complacency that overcomes me
Such incendiary allegories
Quoting fables, telling stories,
Stuck in the stables, lines of worry
All because you never learned to say that you’re sorry
Driving all night through a demanding assertion
Thriving to fight and commanding anything but desertion
The singularity is landing with or without coercion
The calamity is the catastrophe
The reason why this race is hurting
Like a psychotic symphony, draw down the curtain
“Cos I’ve been down on bended knee
Talking to the man from Gallilee.”
Just be certain that you can handle the weight of the burden,
While they’re constantly cursing the day you stood up to say
What so many of us pray for
The abolition of war
A premonition that’s more than just an indecision
that you’re not sure about
Don’t go without shouting your point of view
Creating, collating, and inventing something new
‘Cos I’m through with all of you who just stand back
And take in the distorted view
Who has enacted the opposite of what’s true
While the rest of us combat and hack out the facts
Of all that’s new
Retract the exact point of view
Dedicated to the process of expressing the truth
Benefactors of grace
I’ll be picking up the pace
Sending children to outer space
Remember when I lost the happiness on my face
This disgrace is a basic embrace that’s electric
The bass is eccentric, and the rhythm is inventive
I haven’t got an incentive
Only an internal directive
Like the word police, I’m a sound detective
Slightly defective, I’m always reflective
Got the decency to hold an objective perspective
While it’s the common collective that’s corrective and
Should be more introspective
My elective is like a festive digestive
The best bit is written in Sanskrit
So if you can’t stand, then just sit
Because the next bit
Will hit you like a curfew that hasn’t been sanctioned
Wall Street’s collapsing, and the banks think they’ve won
I’m not in this just for fun
There are those who are in it for the love of their loved ones
And then those who are only in it for themselves or number one
The pronunciation is on the tip of my tongue
A mongrel object direct from the vet
I can always feel, but I’d prefer to forget
Rather not be living in constant regret
The rhythm of these verses comes out for a prophet
I’m not content to lament or to vent my discontent
Give me a bag of cement, and I’ll put a dent in the carbon emissions
Let me circumvent the bent political dissent, and I’ll reinvent the police commission
Write an original rendition
Fill the void and close the gaps that have been missing
While the hyenas are hissing about
Whether or not their opinions count
Get out of the kitchen or at least stop your ****in
It’s the linchpin of a broken society
It’s the flinching face of the expectation of propriety
Redeem me for free, I once was lost, but now I see
It’s the barking of the trees
It’s the certainty in the degrees of the mercury
It’s the sound of all beauty staring back at me.
The End
- The Square Root of Beirut - May 25, 2026
- Modern Consternations of Lament - November 14, 2025
- The War That Defies Justification - July 19, 2025
