The Survivor

So fast it happened – slipped from view
     A vital link – a central clue
          But there it was – distinct rejection,
               ‘doesn’t count’ from close inspection
                    Then with a blink – pushed out the door
                         Like Dicken’s boy, “he asks for more?!”

Though now I face a future brighter
     Than what I did back as a fighter
          A small community was formed
              With folks who kept each other warm
                   But as the basis for its life
                       Was common foe and common strife
                             So some reprieved, or ‘cured’ like me
                                  From fellowship are soon cut free –
                                       No longer have sufficient basis
                                           To walk with them within their stasis
                                                So ‘bid farewell’ they want to see
                                                     And shove us from ‘community’.

Love language of “resourced inclusion” has once again proved an illusion
     Like resource held in circled wagons
          From natives near with costly flagons –
               “There’s plenty there for me and he
                     But not enough for we and ye.”

She spoke in church of rainbow child
     Cast out from church till eighty’s wild
          When they swept in with one agenda
               To bring relief then turn and send a
                    Message to the UC people
                          Of purge begun beneath their steeple.

He deftly wrote from third-world context
     Of strife beneath a cloak of justice
          Where stated words objectives own
               To overthrow oppressor’s throne
                    But under all the reverie
                         A strong desire – oppressor be.

“Reform”, “revolt” the words are heady
     Much faster than a growth that’s steady
          The Vikings rode up Europe’s rivers
               And sent their victims into shivers
                    As fearsome warriors got their way
                        By push and shove they soon held sway.

Their brothers swept across the seas
     Affecting all like you and me.
          The Brits, Canucks, and Yankees too
               With Europe Union’s folks all fool
                    Themselves if think new is this
                         That they can gain contented bliss
                              With push and shove’s almighty fist
                                   Then aftermath of war be missed –
                                        We’re all affected at this table
                                             With sin seen back to Cain an Able.

My brother’s keeper? Yes, we’re not
     ‘My brother’s brother’ – it’s the spot
          Where we would rather elsewhere be
               Because it calls from you and me
                   A challenge to our hearths far deeper
                        Than all this talk of brother’s keeper
                             Because a keeper needs a kept
                                  A brother’s ways we must accept.

For this we know we are not able
     So quick reject ‘them’ from our table
          So newly healed, the conquered native
               The rainbow child, oppression’s plaintiff
                   When given the chance at freedom leap
                        Then turn the tables – kept to keep

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