A SONG OF MOURNING

Not long ago was the earth

An abode beauteous,

Carpeted by the velvet green,

Roofed by the halcyon blue;

And ribboned by babbling brooks

Of a metallic sheen.

Gnarled giants stood patient guard-

Wizened gentleness cast in

Frames stout and hard,

Peering at the cheerful white clouds

Scurrying across the azure above.

The giants laughed at the pranks

Of the frolicking streams,

As they wound by their knotty feet

On their journey to the lushest leas.

The clouds loved the leafy fragrance

Of the canopies that stroked them,

And at times, their woes they wept out

Against the loving brown bosoms.

Confided the winds in these soothing giants

And left with souls purged

Of the burning angst.

Birds perched on the giants’ arms

And sang to them mellifluous strains,

While the giants smiled and swayed

In rhythmic beat, their emerald heads.

But invaded into this paradise

The ruthless villain Man-

With hard glittering eyes

Full of avarice and lies,

Carrying razor-like smiles,

And something shiny besides.

The cold metal glistened in the sun,

Held in Man’s brutal clasp;

With stony swipes they fell

On the bewildered hapless giants,

Whose limbs they hacked,

Whose hearts they pierced,

And left lying dead

In a pool of betrayed blood.

The whole land went into mourning

Of their beloved giants;

The velvet carpets tore and smudged,

The halcyon blue paled into ugly grey.

No more did the birds sing,

No more did the winds sigh,

No more did the brooks laugh,

No more did the clouds cry,

No more, no more....

And where once resounded

The lovely dance beats of life,

Echoed the sinister silence of death,

Sharpened by metallic silver blades.