The Silent Judge

 

Feeding off fish that lived in the mud

Long before the stench of European blood

Living in the dark so that I could stay cool

Forever have I lived in those murky pools

Until I decided under the moons pretty glean

To be reborn in what’s now New Orleans

 

I may be sentient though I may be mute

My mind is sound and my thoughts astute

And I live in the methane of the vapors I breath

Timeless I am and forever I seethe

Much have I seen since I crawled from the sludge

So still I reserve my right to judge

 

I slept with the roaches long before the ice

Beyond the humans before they had passed mice

I’ve seen all of earths creatures, both great and small

I’ve watched each one rise, I’ll watch every one fall

I’ve seen continents shift, mountains turn to dust

I’ve watched everything find both love and lust

 

And there were people and empires here long before

The coming disease, murder and war

People who built mountains carved from stone

Though the tiniest life could bring them to bones

And all the rest were raped and now weep

The last of their kind with nothing to keep

 

And too came the slaves whose faces were worn

Forced to a new faith that was carried with scorn

Yet they thought they knew me or that’s what said

They thought I could save them from the lives they led

A voodoo priestess asked protection from gallows

And I kept her people from graves most shallow

And after the east had it’s revolution

The French sold this land to the constitution

And so here every race came and they met

Around the swamps neath the sea, all were let

And so came a culture completely it’s own

Where my alien form could find it’s home

 

But the nation was to war with itself

And the bloodshed created a very new hell

And the products of evil were thrown in my nest

With bodies around me, I never could rest

While some might have said that I had a feast

I’m no flea bitten mutt. I’m no terrible beast

 

I wish not to be judged for my skin that is grey

I’ve learned more in the night than any in day

I am no demon, nor am I a thieve

I obey my own order, I’m not so naïve

My perspective is the most clear and stark

For people reveal themselves in the dark

And there’s one time when I can walk free

When the streets are packed and the forms are seen

In the days just prior to lent

Before man is tired and woman is spent

They don’t think of consequence as the nights grow late

They only care to celebrate

 

I read their minds, so open they grow

In glory or crisis, their thoughts seem to glow

They open up when they love or they fight

When they’re excited I have the most sight

And once again I’d be able to read

Their minds in a time of catastrophe

 

For no one would help when the levee broke

It seemed that chaos again had awoke

And the poor and the damned were forced to wait

So long to rebuild, for help came too late

But still I can say it can be forseen

This angel approving of New Orleans

Reviews

[v.a. stein]

This one speaks. Its blantently truthful nice.

[J.E. Stroud]

I like the taste of this. I'm not sure what that means, but I'm sure you'll get it.