The Elder

The little one came and asked the elder How did things come to be? The elder answered in abstract A truth for all to see It didn't happen all at once, but over many years It happened with joy, laughter, and many silent tears Like death from a thousand cuts, we just didn't want it to be real Now all we have left, is just a bad deal Its not that we didn't know, about the moments of despair Its not that we didn't care, about the sordid affair We just saw problems bigger than the sky and thought, who would dare? And thus became a world that wasn't fair We thought if its not us, maybe its not so bad We can just enjoy our entertainment, and be plenty glad And that's how it began, at least our part anyway Even after so much has happened, we still have so little to say The little one sat and asked the elder Why did we do these things? The elder answered in abstract A sample of our selfish dreams We did it because it felt good Better than being good to ourselves Better than loving thy neighbor Better than the highest health We called lies little, when they are quite big Marking the beginning of our disgrace We treated our future like it was a blooper Without ever willing to embrace We covered up truth with makeup and masks Now we are the ones defaced Our religion became follows and likes And so we lost our faith The little one stood and asked the elder What can we do now? The elder answered in abstract With a head heavily bowed The one thing that is our purpose We no longer do Because we look up atop our ivory towers And only see a zoo We believe that one can affect change As long as its not us So the answer to your question Is to once again practice love Have the conversations that create community Not just for our favorite friends Overcome our bias and impunity And false prophets will come to end The little one turned and asked the elder Will you tell them I left? The Elder answered in abstract As a smile touched his breath I will tell the story of the one Who decided to be changed And became the foundation For this story to be reframed When they come and ask Where did the future go? I will tell them the past only hopes For the future to grow That if we seek the future We must put in the work That we can move forward Only when we acknowledge the hurt