DEMONS BOW TO COMPASSION

It will take great oratory to restore our tradition,
because it is not enough to simply say the truth,
as in, “After you defeated the warriors, and the women
and the children, and had no taste for the meat,
why did you slaughter the buffalo?”

Yes, I know we all humans did those things,
but the tribes honored the earth as their mother
and the sky as their father, even as they took slaves
and held enmity for generations.  But all that time
the buffalo ran free in their hearts and the earthly plain.

The compassion I speak of may come from another set
of beings. I do not see them yet — my oratory is small and
does not move much weight of light. I picture them
riding star drive from another green system
after we have scorched the earth for millennia.

Perhaps they look like us, having left us for the test.
One thing for sure, if they’ve lasted long
they’ve learned to love their enemies,
and the ones they carry inside. Of course we already
were told the sky wisdom by our wise ones, all of them,

that there is only one love, but we think there are many,
each one
better and more just than its neighbor.
As I said, it will take great oratory to
restore our tradition.

11/24/13