“Civilized”
These lines we cannot stop ourselves drawing
to divide a breathing sum into parts
we call redefinition
as with each new division
we rip ourselves further apart.
Our words are our sticks and stones
flung high to scratch the thrones
of great higher powers
with faces like ours
whose minds can never be known.
We spin and whirl through endless space
in which we seem to have no place
and we wail and we claw
at each fault and flaw
we think we can replace.
For all the things we take and give,
ourselves the least we should forgive;
but our beautiful ruins
are what make us most human
So live, and let live.