We Were Once Kings

We were once kings. This world was ours, and heaven touched earth. Dreams were not impossible, and lives flourished. The future was bright, and the past was dressed in memories, warming the fabric of the human heart. Time was a friend never thought cruel, and we knew peace. We were kings, leaders of the people, but then they came and took it all away.

They came in peace. This motto has become a river run dry, but we wanted their friendship. They promised dreams and hope, and we drank from their cup. Our land, our home was theirs, and hands shook. A new chapter began, one we looked forward to, but then the pages dried up. And the ink ran red.

Heaven no longer touched earth. The ground was broken, bare, and flowers so beautiful were pieces in the wind. Mighty giants fell, skyscrapers shattered with shards of glass, and what was taken for granted was taken completely. No more dreams. No more hope. The future refused to shine, and the past scolded a million times. And time laughed like a true betrayer because now we waved the white flag.

They were locusts. They swarmed and swarmed, and now there was nothing left. This land, our home was gone. Our past, our future annihilated. We were no longer kings but slaves forced to live as they would have us live, and they ruled with a heavy, iron thumb. Our trust, our friendship was nothing but the red carpet for them to storm upon, and now that mistake were the bodies lying six feet down. And the world sunk in a little deeper, hollowed out by the coldness of their soul.

There was no return. There was no taking back what was now destroyed, and the past were the ashes drifting under my feet. The future was a hot, unforgiving sun waiting to burn me just a little more, and an old woman cried. Her death was the hole in her head, and she saw the writing on the wall. But it was too late. It was too late to fight. It was too late to beg. It was just too damn late, and they remained unforgiving. They were the kings now, and we were theirs. And no more would we know peace because peace had become the forbidden dream, and hope was buried, locked under grief and struggle. Yet, I remain.

(For Tibet and For The Rapanui)