Skullduggery

Skullduggery    4/24/2012

Some things take time

And sometimes to solve a mystery 

You have to dig

A little deeper

Or search 

A little longer.

Excavating dirt and clay

And sifting though the ashes
You might find some broken pottery,
Tools, or even bones
Crumbling and forgotten. 

They also lived

And they also knew
Walking in the same places
And asking the same questions
Thousands of years ago.

We are not, half as different

As we think we are
But we have them
And they did not have us.

It shouldn't be a mystery

And they probably did their best

Trying to be good
And blazing trails
No one had traveled before.

We can study, and we can learn

Dusting off the remains
Imagining the folly
And staring at skulls.

Many long nights have passed

With the countless migrations of man
High tide and low tide
Up, down
Dumb and dead.

Bloody revolutions

And genocide
Intermingled with resurgence
In a ceaseless cycle
Of sleep and wakefulness.

Wars of attrition

And belligerent dictators
Clawing for power
And domination.

But still we do not learn

Even though
The evidence remains
In historical fact
Recorded and numbered.

We fail to see the paradox

Buried under our feet
Showing tolerance to the intolerant
And all running away.

You can’t lift anyone up

By destroying the strong
And you cannot trust an enemy
Who lusts for your blood.

If a man has eyes

Then let him see
Staring into the murky waters
To see what is to come.

Men who hate, will kill

And men who love, will save
But a man who loves enough
Will know when he must
Resist and fight.

Many are those

Who played it safe
Preferring not to notice
Those dragged away.

And many were those

Who stayed silent
Watching the truth silenced
And the good butchered.

But who could save them

When they were the last
Taken with their children
And killed in the night.

We think we are special

And we think we are immune
That enslavement and murder
Could never happen
In the here and now.

But not every enemy

Beats down the gates
And not every psychopath
Is as obvious as the last.

Some will come smiling

And some will call you, their friend
But you will know them by their words
And know them by their heart.

Their criticisms and their silence

Speak louder than words
And their mentors and controllers
Shall pull all the strings.

They lie because they have to

In order to get what they want
Just enough to take
What their abilities
Could never acquire.

Wise people 

Look behind the mask
Recognizing the truth
No matter how it looks.

For better it is

To lose favor
Than it is to condemn the future
And better it is to fight for fairness
Than to fight for survival.

Awaken to the past

To see the future unfold
Because this is not the first
But it could be the last.