A Poem By Richard Wing

We Were Humanity

We were humanity,
crawling from the depth of the sea
or banished from Eden’s Garden,
evolving, the tiller of soil,
weaver of flax, the huntsman providing,
forming into clans and tribes, 
kingdoms, towns, and cities, 
organized into territories, states
and nations, centers of commerce, 
and intellectual pursuits, the arts,
growing larger, countries ordered
across this revolving, rotating 
rock in space, Earth’s people 
building lives and community, 
and it was so, blessed as goodness.

We were humanity.
And now we watch the earth
burning around us, the sound 
of rockets and bullets and hatred,
a red-yellow glow signifying death, 
wondering, perhaps, where we erred,
our prayers to the gods-that-be falling
now on deaf ears, alone in our silence,
awaiting an uncertain end …

We were humanity.