Funny games that we play:
Write down lines with numbers and words
That make up promises of new things to come
And erasures of old things to be swept away
Gather them up into numbered paragraphs
Garnished with quotes from dead men
And the flourish of fighting words
Then declaim the words unto a tepid room
Full of desiccated men with dried-up ambitions
And a sprinkling of the young and aspirant
Desperate to keep some small spark
Of their youthful dreams alive amidst the desolation
And after that, more words:
Words of eager and noseful praise
Words of doubt and scornful raze
Words of apathy in gauzy haze
A long kabuki of paper plowshares
And the fierce clanging of plastic swords
Just words words words
To mark the passing of one year
And the coming of another
More promises to stave off the hastening
Fears of that final day
When words fall onto the red earth of returning.
"How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives." – Annie Dillard