Monday, March 22, 2021

Adam weeping

 

How long did Adam weep
when he fully understood the totality of good and evil?
When he saw the fullness of it, i mean?
Tiny bullets, great wars.
Monstrous lies, subtle betrayals.
When he understood death in all its fullness
The grief and devastation of the dying
The grief and devastation of the bereaved.
Tiny cancer cells and the fear of them
Mass hidden graves
Broken hearts
He cried for himself, of course.
But for his children, grandchildren, great-greats
All the sorrows of his descendants before his eyes?
No doubt God comforted his regret eagerly
But regret is not so easily tamed.
All those pre diluvian years
With each new murder, calamity, woe
Weren't his tears renewed?
How could they not be?
How could the parent of all mankind ever grow numb?

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Fractured Villanelle

 Myth is perpetual

Racism is stalwart

The past is changeless and therefore everpresent


Princes leave their kingdom

To find their destined bride

The myth is perpetual.


But kingdom must approve the far-off  Bride

And the Bride must always be fair.

Racism is stalwart.


 She enters the kingdom

A descendant of the conquered

Myth is perpetual


The populace remembers the greatness of its conquerors

They remember their ancestors' burden

Racism is stalwart.


There is wrongness in the truest love

if the myth of race and empire demand the perpetual

Because the past is stalwart, changeless and everpresent


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