To Contenders

Unwavering eyes squared; prepared
to meet enemies undaunted, once
more into the breach
Dear friends — mine, sons to fathers,
brothers, bound to each other — never
diminish today’s glory
If you believe millennia, and moments
are meaningless opposites, when you come across
a scarcity of the Universe,
Recognize, oblige, contend, and then behold
what time granted a society, and society elected
to her significant, before me.

Fantasies of tempered bone, and rock-skin
and the capacity of engine bellows in lungs
are fantastic goals to attain
Today, after having been gleaned under the sun
and rain alike; now frenzy on your crop
with the savagery of a shark
dying in a dead ocean, or harvests die in winter
Unyielded; left a withered mass grave, like a season
never to mention or remember
That was never granted one of the Universe’s greatest gifts —
pieces of itself passed down, gloriously received
and as glorious when graced