Electric Birds

Out in that vast dark we had to keep sight
Of what brought us to that desert kingdom,
Beneath which swam the darkest currency.
Soldiers to the battlefield for oil
Seems an imbalance of terms, but it was
Deeper and older than black gold why we
Went to Kuwait. We crossed an ocean on
The electric cord of which we are heirs:
That all men are created equal and
Are endowed by their Creator.
And when that bronze wolf stole upon the doe,
We took the self-evident truths to him
In the form of forceful wisdom and speed.
So when your bird got snared in those power
Lines strung out in all that cold, thick-dark night
And fell over onto the desert sand,
Hard like concrete; the sound of crushed metal
Went mute in the dry earth. I knew you did
Not die for nothing or for money or for fame.
You are cast in memory of old Freedom and older Life,
Those beautiful, true wonders neither moth nor rust doth corrupt
Nor which thieves can break through and steal.

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