Compromise

what was the planet

thinking bringing

forth a being

with self-awareness

and the free will

to act upon it but

with no anchor

in consequence

                  *

in the day laborer's

view the weeding

could not proceed

or be efficiently

accomplished

without

the temporary

lifting of

the buddha

statue

from

the

garden

                  *

all these histories

fables myths

ballads epics

annotated chronologies

and holy books

assembled

after the fact

mostly to advance

the political or economic

interests of

the storyteller's

employers or

the plotters

of the incipient

rebellion or

the framers

of the next

world order

                  *

sometimes there is

no we in us

as when the last emperor

claims as his own

the flaming throne

that has become the hot rock

orbiting a swelling star

                  *

with or without

you or me

until the planet

stops its spinning and

revolving and

the sun ceases

its fiery fusion the

culmination of

each unchecked

abomination

upon unchecked

abomination

will always be

the compromise

that is tomorrow