CHILDREN AT THE GATE

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In revenge, we have set fire  
to our mother's womb  
where all life emerged,  
 
where the shadows of  
countless pillars of smoke  
fill the skies of oceans  
 
from coffers burst open  
pouring forth stains of  
prehistory risen from the dead  
 
by the reckless children  
let loose upon the shores  
of glacier salt licks  
 
to haze the land with deserts  
that choke her arteries;  
the relentless march to the sea  
 
where there is no welcome,  
to ravage the spices of her  
jeweled neck and arms, to  
 
lay barren her thousand bosoms,  
to defile our first and only home  
that lays at our feet waiting  
 
as our yearning gaze points us  
to the starry firmament  
until at last we might implore  
 
O Earth Mother, forgive us  
before you cast us out of Eden!  
and of course, she does  
 
with her blessings, in spite  
contempt for our birthright  
(it belongs to us, we reason)  
 
too short-lived and fragile  
by our own hand to earn it,  
so we try and take it  
 
for we are the brazen children  
who forsake her, and  
play with the keys to the gate  
 
which bars our way to the  
knowledge in the shadow of  
the pillars of fire;  
 
they cannot be extinguished  
while at war with ourselves,  
much to our mother's grief  
 
 
Copyright ©2016 Jade Pandora.  All Rights Reserved.  
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