Copyright 2021 Verity Portess, Eco Stamnick

Nine Holocauts

I would never use the word ‘holocaust’
To trivialise the slaughter and systematic murder
Of six million Jews and other victims
Of the Nazi regime during World War Two.

I’ve read Elie Wiesel, I’ve read Primo Levi
I’ve sat in my room, shed tears and wrung my hands
In disbelief at man’s evil to man
In disbelief at human evil and disregard for life

But I will use the word ‘holocaust’, nine times over
To describe the 56 million souls 
Brutally killed every year across the globe
56 million souls plucked from this mortal coil
Nine holocausts every year across the globe.

And the word
The word is ‘abortion’
The word is ‘abortion’
And the colour of abortion 
Blood-red

Now here’s this scientist
Supercilious
So serious
Sanctimonious
With furrowed brow he explains
“They feel no pain
They’re not human
They’re sub-human
They’ve got no rights
There’s no disregard for life.”

And the word
The word is ‘abortion’
The word is ‘abortion’
And the colour of abortion 
Is blood-red
Blood-red blood-red
Blood-red blood-red

Then there’s this doctor
She’s a paradoxer
Once she’d vowed ‘to do no harm’
Now she’s calmly detaching an arm
With a cheery smile she exclaims 
“They feel no pain
They’re not human
They’re sub-human
They have no rights
There’s no disregard for life.”

Sub-human, sub-human we’ve heard that one before
That’s how they used to talk about the poor
Now it’s the turn of the unborn
Sub-human, sub-human we’ve heard that one before
That’s what they used to call the poor
Then it was women, blacks, Jews and gays
And nowadays it’s the unborn

It’s inhuman, to define human
It just defines sub-human
Leads to exclusion, murder and pain
Leads to exclusion, mass-murder and pain

And the word
The word is ‘abortion’
The word is ‘abortion’
And the colour of abortion 
Is blood-red
Blood-red blood-red
Blood-red blood-red
Nine holocausts a year 
Blood-red blood-red

We don’t use trains, we don’t use camps
We don’t use guards with guns and dogs
There’s no need for subterfuge or poison-showers
No ‘Albeit Macht Frei’ in iron bowers
And why not?
Well don’t you see?
Our victims are that naive
They actually believe
That they are loved
That they are wanted
It’s in their DNA, hard-wired in every cell
They say
‘Why else were were created
If not to be born?
To take our place
On this great stage
To live and to love
To make the world a better place
To exercise our infinite potential
To exercise our infinite potential
Why else were we created
If not to be born?’

It’s so easy for us to conceive
But it’s impossible for us to conceive
It’s so easy for us to conceive
But it’s impossible for us to conceive
Just how unique each human life is
It’s impossible for us to conceive

And the word
The word is ‘abortion’
The word is ‘abortion’
And the colour of abortion 
Is blood-red

The word is ‘abortion’
The word is ‘abortion’
And the colour of abortion 
Is blood-red

Blood-red blood-red
Blood-red blood-red

Nine holocausts a year
Blood-red blood-red 
Blood-red blood-red
Blood-red blood-red 
Blood-red blood-red
Nine holocausts a year
Blood-red blood-red blood-red
Blood-red blood-red blood-red
Nine holocausts a year
Blood-red blood-red 
Blood

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