Wasteland Poem by Sara Militello

Wasteland

And there lies a vacant wasteland
laid bare
A mimicking foilage all aslant
The tallest plant no higher than a hare:

Once upon a uranium briar
Lay most of the dead.
Those not adrift on an unconquered sea.
They gave their lives for a lie
and a loaf of bread.

They'd reached for the forbidden dream
when only a few questioned the leading team.
The gallows beckoned then;
Most cannot remember why or when.

Those who'd opted for the tide
Landed on the other side;
Began anew to dream the dream
Of long ago by another team;

lost are God's gentler Earth rhythms
by blind obiesence-never-mind-the-schisms;
and endless political games that ever impale
the unwary on thorned travail.

March 30,1999