Yes, Adolf Hitler's Brownshirts
had their traditions too -
riotous revels reaching back to the Dark Ages.
No, they were not the first
to go through the ghettoes like a dose of salts,
assaulting, insulting, terrorising;
but they enriched the tradition with their own mix
of depravity and efficiency.
Strict-belted, jackbooted, chinstrapped,
the roar was the only mouth-music
they could muster.
Braying their hate-chants,
bearing their barbaric insignia,
they marched out of history.
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©Renate Mitchell. May not be reproduced in any form online or offline without explicit written permission.