J French
Until you settle like dust
We were here before you,
Rumours fly across mighty oceans
Faster than flashes of lightning
They say you are horrendous
The old collapse when you breathe
The young give up their dreams
At your whip
And huddle up behind closed doors
No guests are allowed including teachers
“It’s too risky”, they say.
They warn that you are deadly.
Yea, we never expected the cemetery to fill up so soon.
How revolutionary of you!
Forcing us to change our traditional greetings
Gagging our mouths
Like a horse in a muzzle
And making us wash our clean hands in the absence of meals?
You have confused our national budgets
And unraveled them digit by digit like
Falling dominoes escaping from a puzzle
We are puzzled by how you managed to clear up
The pews of synagogues
How you choked church bells
How you arrogantly stamped “CLOSED” signs
On doors of Cathedrals
Aren’t you blasphemous
Insulting the army of the Lord?
Oh, we will gladly watch you crumble speck by speck
Until you settle like dust
We were here before you,
And we will outlive your havoc.
You are just a crumbling mountain that is swallowed up
In folds and ditches of the earth’s chambers
I bet you will live long enough to watch us rebuild over your lifeless body
Some will swell up off the fortune of your vaccine.
Others will feast at royal tables; making policies against your welcome.
But we will all outlive your tyranny
Oh, Crumbling Mountain.
We will outlive your tyranny