These tales we tell
From bleached bones
Rattling teeth
Open jaws
Bereft of tongue and sinew
Still we speak
Piled high we tell
Of death most foul
Victims all
Of power’s struggles
We know the ineffable
Truth of life and death
But have no dominion
No road to follow
To rise in rank
Upon this truth
Which among us now
Was king or creature?
Which servant
And which master?
In the pale light
Of an unsympathetic moon
We shine as one
Undifferentiated
To speak of carnage
And evil long
Beyond the memory
Of man
(c) Helen M Valentina 2016