Christina Galbraith - The Fiery Sword

 When discussing the fiery sword in the Ecology of Eden, I was reminded of the monument in Washington D.C. that depicts a fiery sword to commemorate those who died while serving in the 2nd Infantry Division of the U.S. Army while defending Paris from the German advance in WWII. If the fiery sword is a symbol of our separation from wilderness, it also is a symbol of the destruction that can be wrought against one another. The unique design of the monument reminds me of King Arthur's sword, Excalibur, and how it was used as a tool that enabled Arthur to become king and rule. Swords are tools, and perhaps the ultimate symbolism of the fiery sword is that in our hands it can yield ultimate destruction should we follow that path. While there are occurrences of battles over territory between animals in the natural world, the humans form of territorial battle, war, is wildly destructive. We have used our tools to torture, injure, and kill one another in wars that have been documented throughout human history. I am often taken aback by the destruction that is wrought by war. If you see pictures of Europe during and after WWII so many towns and countryside's were devastated. Whether you believe that human civilization or nature is the main world-pole, both were destroyed. In one of her poems, "The End and the Beginning," Wislawa Szymborska uses consonance to illustrate the clean up required after the war: 

"Someone has to shove
the rubble to the roadsides
so the carts loaded with corpses
can get by."

The brutal imagery in the verse demonstrates the despair and destruction that can come when our tools are used to conquer and kill.

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