THE DARK ONE
I woke
I sang
I saw us bow
Before the dark one
Wishing reality
Would end
The tariffs of principle
The unbowed joy of love
Were eviscerating us
We were a new kind
Of heathen sending trains
Of dead innocents back
To their waiting families
We had surrendered
Convinced that ‘free’
Was more than a word
We made our t-shirts,
Our cars, our bowls
And brushes into weapons
We fought to stay blind
We twisted the earth
Into a crowbar and jacked
The universe off our backs
We tried to celebrate
With extravagant diseases
A booming market and leisurely
Affairs but the harpoons of disgust
Made us weep
Soon the resources of two
Earths would be needed
To sustain us
We started hoarding
And taught savagery
To the young
Never before had prosperity
Been so widespread
No one believed
That there was no more water
No one believed
That we were getting ready
To become cannibals
I woke
I sang
I saw us bow down
Before the dark one
He heard me, opened doors
For me, encouraged me to sing on
Knowing full well that the ways
Were lost and
Lost even were the words
That had named them