In all the sturm and drama 
That we’re seeing on the streets
There’s proof of that old axiom
That history repeats
 
The tearing down of statues
Is nothing really new
From age to age to age to age
It’s what destroyers do
 
To those who think this trivial
And protests like this harmless
Go see that statue in the Louvre
(You know, the one that’s armless)
 
Once it stood for beauty
And a culture with no peers
Then lost and buried in the ground
For some 2,000 years
 
By every mark of excellence
And artistry we measure
What could have persuaded men
To topple such a treasure?
 
Ask them to explain
Although you know they truly can’t
For overturning Lincoln
A Cervantes or a Grant
 
Perhaps atop a henge of stone
A great colossus stood
It might have shared its secrets
If now it only could
 
But in some untold story
Another seized the crown
The mob was set on fire
And it all came crashing down
 
Of all the sacred verities
That man has ever stated
From reservoirs of thoughtlessness
Is ignorance created