Wednesday, March 7, 2012

When the Wind Was Just the Wind




The dawn wind howled
and I woke
my own tempest of worries
swirling
with the dried leaves of autumn
still on top

There is no snow this year
to cover them
no pure white blanket
to comfort and assist 
their transformation
from fed to food

Instead they are snatched up
in this reckless dance
with the voices of the ancients
keeping time
demanding they go
this way or that

It's the same with the living
 robbed of their land 
and their livelihoods
they too swarm 
in shantytowns of despair 
wreaking havoc on foreign lands

 I long for the whispering winds 
of my youth
when annihilation 
was just a word 
someone in a bad temper
had made up

To spread fear
among the innocent
who could choose 
to believe or not
as if noting melting ice caps
is an act of faith

And this unwinter 
is surely an illusion 
of the faithful
or the unfaithful
on this world 
without end