In ancient Troy's majestic, towering wall,
A wooden horse stood proud and ten feet tall.
"A sacred gift!" the Trojans cheered with glee,
Not knowing death lurked in that gift so free.
They hauled destruction through their city's gate,
While hidden Greeks inside would seal their fate.
The Titanic gleamed, a palace on the sea,
"Unsinkable!" they boasted, bold and free.
Ice warnings came like whispers in the night,
But pride sailed on, dismissing prudent sight.
The frozen deep became their final bed,
Where hubris led and fifteen hundred bled.
At Chernobyl's heart, where atoms danced in flame,
Men played with fire to win technology's game.
"Just one more test," they said with reckless mind,
Leaving caution and safety far behind.
The earth itself would glow with toxic light,
As folly turned the day to endless night.
Napoleon marched through Russia's bitter snow,
His grand armée in columns, row by row.
"Moscow awaits!" he cried with fevered dream,
But winter's wrath would shatter his grand scheme.
The frozen steppes became his soldiers' tomb,
Where arrogance met its icy, final doom.
The Maginot Line stood strong like fortress walls,
France built in stone what logic rarely calls.
"No army here shall ever break or bend!"
Yet Germans simply walked around the end.
In concrete trust, they placed their nation's hope,
While nimble foes found paths beyond their scope.
The Edsel rolled with chrome and marketing might,
Ford's crystal ball had failed to see the light.
They built a car that nobody would buy,
A monument to dreams that went awry.
The public laughed at what they thought was best,
And millions lost became folly's bitter test.
In Salem's streets, where fear and madness grew,
They hunted witches, innocent and true.
Spectral evidence seemed proof enough to kill,
While reason fled and panic climbed each hill.
Twenty souls died for crimes they never made,
When wisdom's voice in terror's din did fade.
The Challenger reached toward the morning sky,
While engineers warned, "Wait! Don't let her fly!"
But schedules pressed and publicity called,
So safety checks were rushed and protocols stalled.
Seven brave hearts were lost in freedom's name,
When hubris turned their glory into flame.
The dot-com bubble swelled like golden air,
As fortunes rose from ventures built on prayer.
"This time is different!" echoed through the land,
While phantom profits slipped through eager hands.
When reality came knocking at the door,
Dreams crashed to earth like waves upon the shore.
The Hindenburg floated, pride of German might,
A silver whale drifting through the sky so bright.
But hydrogen whispered danger in the wind,
While confidence kept safety discipline thinned.
In moments, fire consumed the floating dream,
And folly's price was heard in every scream.
From Tower of Babel reaching toward the sun,
To modern schemes that leave us all undone,
The pattern holds through every age and year:
When wisdom flees, disaster draws near.
Pride goeth first, then comes the bitter fall,
And history records the folly of us all.
Yet in these tales of hubris and of shame,
Lies wisdom's torch, an ever-burning flame.
For those who learn from errors of the past
May find that prudent choices long outlast
The fleeting glory of the reckless deed—
Humility's the greatest human need.
So let us pause before we charge ahead,
And heed the warnings that our forebears bled.
In every choice, let caution be our guide,
And temper bold ambition's swelling pride.
For folly's echoes ring through time's long hall,
But wisdom's voice can spare us from the fall.
No comments:
Post a Comment