Darts around
A winged missile
Through the thickets
Bramble
Bristle
Probing tents
To find its breakfast
No sign if its
Nearby nested
Just a welcome
Bird intruder
Desert-dwelling
Bug consumer
Flightless seemingly
But races
To and fro
With barely traces
Of its tiny feet
In tracks
Across the sand
Hope it comes back

Slither and writhe
Selflessness
Just contrived
From a selfish
Revolves around me
Sort of mind

Hard to appreciate
Simple past
Present
When with or without it
Our role is quiescent
But here we are actively
Forming foundations
Preserved by philanthropy
Grants and donations
Not just in these pages
Its learning potential
Relies not on stages  
To be consequential
But somewhat contingent
On how much we care
To preserve it
Impart it
Impartially share
To the best
Recollection
What most likely happened
When tribes
Congregations
And kingdoms
Imagined
Whatever their future
Could presage
Must be
Reified
First and foremost
In their
History

Values of poverty,
Piety
Heaven-sent
Somehow becoming
Traditions
More decadent
What other uses
For ages of plunder
Abuses of power's
Insatiable hunger
Foregoing,
Forgetting,
Forgiving excesses
With presents
Presented as
What he professes
But was it so prescient
Foreseeing
His birth
Rematerializing
Its tangible worth
In a splendorous
Spending-spree
Dollar tree
Industry
Gifting,
Regifting,
Now shipping
Religiously

Not intent
But intonation
Saw what my people
Had built for me
Waiting
Safeguarding
Regarding
Me
Of the mandating
It can’t be forever
Prosperity yields
It will not be eternal
How awful it feels
For there will come a time
We must choose
Who we are
And through proof
Or in truth
See the solely sworn servitude
Back to the youth

Try talking of climate
They’d sooner
Deny it
Try talking of politics
Seek to divide it
Try sharing your feelings
Divulging your secrets
They’d make them taboo
While exploiting your weakness
Try lead by example
Just see where it gets you
Try seizing the moment
As futures forget to
Contain you
Sustain you
Preserve your remembrance
So why try to make the world
In your resemblance?

Reliving
The campus life
Now an adult
Not a student
Maturing
From youth in revolt
Thought I knew it
Community
Primed and prepared
Was imbued with
Immunity
To feeling scared
Could adapt
Integrate
And cohabitate
Seamless
Aspired
To overcome
Mountains of needless
And heedless of warnings
To opt for realistic
I shot for the stars
Like a missile
Ballistic
But missed it
The mark
Overshot
The world peace
And crash landed instead
On an uncharted beach