Meditation on Tyranny

The river is a wild mystery twisting through his backyard.

He stands on the shore lobbing rocks into the middle,

Mesmerized by the ripples and the vanishing magic depths.

He travels across the waves in his boat,

Wondering at the creatures he drags into the light

Wriggling across the scuff marks left by his father’s shoes.

Unable to resist, filled with bravado, he wades in

The magnificent cold of the water wraps around him,

It is everything he always dreamed that it would be.

In his ears, the sound of his name chanted over and over.

His words a flock of blackbirds bursting into the sky

Forgotten fragments of the night manifesting 

Scattered glass shards glinting in the afternoon sun.

Their promise of pain a tale from another time 

Obscuring the delusion of this moment’s uniqueness.