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.