The Wrong Tree
Look at us humans
bones and blood and skin
eating fruit from the wrong tree,
sailing arks to banish the bad
but we are fools and sink with the ship
Prayers unheard clog the earth
war after war and the world whirls on
a murderer in every corner
superheros vanished or banished,
refugees like the rest of us
Atlantis has disappeared
saints burned at the stake
Shangri La never was
think Hiroshima, my love
Mozart was recalled at thirty-five
Moses forbidden the promised land
slavery and plagues still alive
and no one to raise us from the dead
Look, Henny Penny
the ruble is falling
the wall is wailing
the pipes are calling
Danny, the boy, the soldier
tells Mama he's frightened -
then the missile explodes
The sun shines and regrets and retreats
the crocodile cries and destroys
this is not the planet of free choice
News news everywhere
on buildings, in bunkers,
oh how the world has shrunk
We are all golems
slumped on the floor
waiting for instructions…
or our own destruction