Around a fire
the world sits,
each man and woman
tossing in memories,
laughing as history burns,
euphoric to forget.
The children cower,
tears in their eyes,
weeping for what they've lost.
For time unknown,
unknowable
as eternity,
man has destroyed,
woman has destroyed,
in alternating breaths
to when they nurture;
bringing forth the next
to bare the burden
of age.
The man,
the woman,
each, always,
has the opportunity
to learn,
to change,
to break the cycle.
Instead they cheat,
always the same,
forfeiting memory
to escape their sins;
never bothering
to absolve them.
Ignorance is the blessing
of the young.
The young believe
that it has simply
been lost,
when, in truth,
it has been taken;
stolen by the old
too afraid
of the truths
written before them,
by them,
to live with them,
so, as age
further cripples resolve,
the aged seek
to destroy,
in the same act
cursing the children
to a youth without
their promised peace.