Déjà, déjà Vu (or déjà, déjà, déjà vu)

[shemthepenman]

Backwash slays the army of small pebbles on the shore;
swamped by the foreign foam from distant land. ---- ok, so of course this makes sense, but if i were being overly critical I would say that using 'from distant land' suggests that land itself is distant [but now I think about it that's quite a nice idea].
I watch stone soldiers run, God-left in this war;
then faithlessly they fall, and turn to sand. ---- yes, the analogy works for me. but I don't like the 'god-left' turn, but it is only a small thing.

Once the burning Buddhists lit the conscience of our age; ---- this line sounds a little hokey if not cliche.
the sea that moats around us quenched that flame.
I feel that I’m no cleaner, though I memorised the page,
that turns and turns and turns… but reads the same. --- These last two lines are very interesting indeed. But at the moment I am not sure if they are interesting good or interesting not so good I'll have to have a think about it.

Fire, come cremate us! Water drown us all!
For we, kings of our destiny, want war! ---- could this be tidied up a bit? the parenthesis just gets in the way I think and sounds forced.
Again, again, again we rise. Again, again we fall;
to share the dust with others…who have walked this road before. --- nice anticlimactic last line.

Tectak ( Ooooo shit! I've gone all serious)
2013

overall I enjoyed this poem. But the subject or idea of the poem is a little old. How many poems about history repeating itself does one need? If one is to write about a cliche subject then one must be certain it is fucknuts original; I am not sure this one is, but it is a pleasant read.