Snipers in the Pre-Dawn

‘Follow the Allegiance’ is an essay about modern group dynamics leading to war; this is a poetic passage from its conclusion.

If we have slept, we are going to wake tomorrow and ………..

put into play what we believe- act on what we see and hear -

make decisions based on the random information we have -

deal with conflict –receive praise and criticism-

be lied to for our own good-

surge with dark rage when a bad memory hits mid-day-

be reminded of things we forgot — forget that which we need to know

give a pocketful of change to the homeless beggar who calls our names as we forage for food

and later in darkness retire to the forests of the night where

— insomniac —

we spend the secret hours pacing and prowling, marching ourselves into a daze that at dawn is the best we can do for sleep.

By mid-day beneath a hot sun it begins again, and we go from office to office, seeking truth or at best proof to support our assumptions, and we will find, to varying degrees ……..

ambiguous signs of near-nirvana, an epidemic of aphasia

— but there is no silence —

the secret to grow your stubborn money;

the one-eyed self-proclaimed king, arrested for lunacy, being measured for a strait-jacket;

and finally evidence of the rule book from which the powers are always quoting but didn’t seem to exist…….

…….. yet here it might be, its cover blank, inside the names redacted ……

And so again, we come to the night. First we bathe in a golden twilight and then there is darkness:

Wandering, we find the still-burning candle from the vigil held for martyrs no one knew,

but all remember — their stories grown and deepened, polished into the cold smooth obsidian of myth: the dreamtime id of us as heroes, the other as villains,

and the wars that spring from the brittle duality to which we retreat when threatened,

and which the rare soul can transcend, and even then only in times of safety and abundance:

………… but acting from abundance can be a lonely pursuit;

Generosity and benevolence go unrecognized, arousing suspicion,

as we would rather remain with the embattled group facing rumors of snipers on rooftops and hillsides,

than to walk alone on safe paths toward a stable future.

Dig deep and we find that no one believes any path is safe, and that the idea of a stable future has long been cast aside, disproven; and so we walk,

together, praying the snipers have an off night,

and that if we sleep, we may wake again tomorrow, and put into play that which we believe, if there’s anything left to believe.