Exiled... Poem by John Tansey

Exiled

Exiled…
from my tribe;
Outcast, ostracized
For defying the elders.
My spear, broken,
Sling and skin gourd, taken.

Banished…
Pelted with stones
By those pockmarked with sin
Beaten beyond the mountains I have known
Down into the hinterlands,
And the cold, wintry wild, alone

Excommunicated…
To be alone, even in death.
Without such security
As the clan and cave,
I shiver in the cold,
Get wet in the rain.

Disowned…
No more to be one of them.
I seek shelter on a patch of land,
Under a thatch of sky
I must fend, now, for myself,
A lone, lean wolf, scavenging

On the frozen Tundra, alone.


John Tansey Sometime in 06