How Woke Won

While we were sleeping Snug in our beds Lost in our dreams A black spirit stole across the land And by dawn had merged with every shadow When we awoke We took for granted the lingering critical sensibility - as if awaking with a hangover from the spectacular successes and excesses of our civilization – And before our morning cup Could clear our heads Had embraced this dark spirit With the fervor of the newly converted Impulsively, compulsively taking yin to yang As if reborn from our primal roots But when civilization falls And is abandoned - and undermining eventually always leads to collapse – What is left is tribalism But without the innocence of its youth And youth without innocence Is just tyranny without conscience Shadow without form Woke won because we became soft and sloppy Ungrateful and guilty for all the pleasures and abundance The hard work of Life bestows (5/6/23)