Forgotten Ground Regained
To Consecrate Our Calamities,
To Commemorate This Carnage
circling shifted soil, shamanesses sway, shapelessly, in the sand—shrouded in scarred shadows
slowly, the silenced subjects of the state surround this ceremony, this celebration realized through the sacrifices of the shantytown shepherdesses, who call for a revolt, a reckoning, a return tothe equity of Eutierria
for resettlements have been razed reinstating the rule of ravagers, who rely on, who revel inthe spoils of savagery, the sacrilege of the sacredthat shall be reclaimed, that shall be requited
because the old world, that of spirit and soul, persistsin passion and pain, leaving behind strongholds, safeguards, strategums—remnants of the revelation reasoned when we were wise and wilful, sustained on the sow of sanctified soil, under the auspices of ageless ancestors, whose wisdom we once availed ourselves of—only for the wretched with their wickednessto waste the world and warp its wonder
but fear not, friends, for in time, with patience and prudence, the shepherdesses shall retaliate, and if pressed, shall reciprocateuntil equilibrium is reestablishedand Eutierria is reenvisioned
on this night, however, the shamanesses shall sway, shapelessly, in the sand, so that one daywhen our children ask us why, why we choose to consecrate our calamities, to commemorate this carnage wrought here by these insatiable cannibals, who have culled us like cattle we shall hold our heads high and respond: “this barren land is now fertile grounds for a revolution”
slowly, the silenced subjects of the state surround this ceremony, this celebration realized through the sacrifices of the shantytown shepherdesses, who call for a revolt, a reckoning, a return tothe equity of Eutierria
for resettlements have been razed reinstating the rule of ravagers, who rely on, who revel inthe spoils of savagery, the sacrilege of the sacredthat shall be reclaimed, that shall be requited
because the old world, that of spirit and soul, persistsin passion and pain, leaving behind strongholds, safeguards, strategums—remnants of the revelation reasoned when we were wise and wilful, sustained on the sow of sanctified soil, under the auspices of ageless ancestors, whose wisdom we once availed ourselves of—only for the wretched with their wickednessto waste the world and warp its wonder
but fear not, friends, for in time, with patience and prudence, the shepherdesses shall retaliate, and if pressed, shall reciprocateuntil equilibrium is reestablishedand Eutierria is reenvisioned
on this night, however, the shamanesses shall sway, shapelessly, in the sand, so that one daywhen our children ask us why, why we choose to consecrate our calamities, to commemorate this carnage wrought here by these insatiable cannibals, who have culled us like cattle we shall hold our heads high and respond: “this barren land is now fertile grounds for a revolution”
Copyright © J.D. Harlock, 2024
Originally published in The B’K Vol. 15, Issue 3
Reprinted in Forgotten Ground Regained: A Journal of Alliterative Verse, New Series, Issue 4, Fall, 2024
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