after the fall
after the fall i pitched forward, curled fetal in my mother’s arms
copyright Arjuna Greist 2003
cried a thousand babies whose parents didn’t come home
we watched over & over til the pictures burned themselves
on the back of our eyes
we sang songs by candlelight & waited by the phone
after the fall came a winter where everything was coated in white
& red & blue, even you
and everyone was asking, “why?”
i was asking, “why not before? why not more?”
but they just gave me dirty looks, & hummed along to the censored radio
i turned my eyes to the sky, only sky
after the fall it became clear i am a child of science fiction
watching, wide-eyed as galaxies unfold
where the aliens come flying down, sometime just after world war 3
and make us see that we are not so alone
so we turn all our energy to curing hunger and disease
and exploration, curious and bold
after the fall, it’s every day too much reality
the money in our pockets the only little green men we see
and all these little mean men parade across my tv
and i am not proud to be
this is a land of opportunity missed,
we have the power- the superpower to heal so many in pain
but we shirk responsibility and choose to just thow rockets,
& god, & grenades
so i will be a champion of the alien notion
that the best defense is having people free