7 hours ago
(This post was last modified: 7 hours ago by RiverNotch.)
Coup de Grâce
The island shaking and the great stone heads
toppling proved a herald of the merchants
of bodies who with their guns and chains would steal
at first the children then at last the chiefs.
All those they left---the very final keepers
of memory for the people---they would further
decimate with disease and with what famine
losing so many hands to blistered skin
or bloody sputum brought, so by the time
the merchants of comfort with their starched white collars
and pearlescent prayer beads arrived, the writing
inscribed on wooden tablets was obscure,
the meaning behind what tattoos the elders wore
had grown arcane, the statues of wood in their homes
were honored less and less: whatever faith
the people had once possessed was overthrown,
whatever religion they had was now mere culture,
whatever prohibitions were impressed
by their new masters were just a coup de grâce.
The island shaking and the great stone heads
toppling proved a herald of the merchants
of bodies who with their guns and chains would steal
at first the children then at last the chiefs.
All those they left---the very final keepers
of memory for the people---they would further
decimate with disease and with what famine
losing so many hands to blistered skin
or bloody sputum brought, so by the time
the merchants of comfort with their starched white collars
and pearlescent prayer beads arrived, the writing
inscribed on wooden tablets was obscure,
the meaning behind what tattoos the elders wore
had grown arcane, the statues of wood in their homes
were honored less and less: whatever faith
the people had once possessed was overthrown,
whatever religion they had was now mere culture,
whatever prohibitions were impressed
by their new masters were just a coup de grâce.