April 4, 2010 (prompt: Ruin)

The lone and level sands stretch far away. (Ozymandias by Shelly)

Civilizations in my life
time have not been
civil nor alive or

watchful of its gifts

we live in a wreckage
of forgotten histories
under a mantle

of our own goodness

this power carries
thunder and produces
a drought, nothing

to leave our children

you might think treasure
must be counted and
collected, replaced when
the edges fray

this is nothing

examine the sands
look at each grain
remember the life
once passed there

when the word
had music, and music
had story, and lips
conveyed generous
beauty-- lessons came
in the shape of cornices
and moons, in the filament
and the fragrance, in husk
and in the carpals, harp,
element and tale

civilizations in my life
time have not been
civil nor alive or even
aware, that we cannot
build, just yet