Two Innocents Poem by Ray Lucero

A prince stood on the balcony of his palace addressing a
great multitude summoned for the occasion and said, “Let
me offer you and the whole fortunate country my con,
gratulations upon the birth of a new prince who will carry
the name of my noble family, and of whom you will be
justly proud. He is the new bearer of a great and illustrious
ancestry, and upon him depends the brilliant future of
this realm. Sing and be merry! ” The voices of the throngs,
full of joy and thankfulness, flooded the sky with exhilarating
song, welcoming the new tyrant who would one day affix
the yoke of oppression to their necks by ruling the weak
with bitter authority, and exploiting their bodies and killing
their souls. For that destiny, the people were singing
and drinking ecstatically to the health of the new prince.

Another child entered life and the kingdom at the same
time. While the crowds were glorifying the strong, whilst
belittling themselves by singing praise to the potential despot,
and while the angels of heaven were weeping over the people’s
weakness and servitude, a sick woman was thinking.
She lived in an old, deserted hovel and lying in her hard
bed beside her newly-born infant wrapped with ragged
swaddles, was starving to death. She was a destitute and
miserable young wife neglected by humanity; her husband
had fallen into the trap of war and death set by the prince,
leaving a solitary woman to whom God had sent, that
night, a tiny companion to prevent her from working and
sustaining life.

As the mass dispersed and silence was restored to the
vicinity, the wretched woman placed the infant on her
lap and looked into his eyes and wept as if she were to about
to baptize him with tears. And with a hunger-weakened voice she
spoke to the child saying, “Why have you left the spiritual
world and come to share with me the bitterness of earthly
life? Why have you deserted the angels and spacious
firmament and come to this miserable land of humans,
filled with agony, oppression, and heartlessness? I have
nothing to give you except tears; Will you be nourished on
tears instead of milk? I have no silk clothes to put on you;
will my naked, shivering arms give you warmth? The little
animals graze in the pasture and return safely to their shed;
and the small birds pick the seeds and sleep placidly between
the branches. But you, my beloved, have naught save a loving
and impoverished mother.”

Then she took the infant to her withered breast and
clasped her arms around him as if wanting to join their two
bodies into one, as before. She lifted her burning eyes slowly
toward heaven and cried, “God! Have mercy on my
unfortunate countrymen! ”

At that moment the clouds floated past the face of the
moon, whose beams penetrated the window of the poor
home…and fell upon two corpses.

(Translated from the writings of Kahlil Gibran)