The Arrival
JA Laflin
Smashwords Edition
Copyright JA Laflin 2010
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I
The Journey
The craft moans,
destitute we feel and oddly shaken.
The claws of silent blackness reach for us,
worlds swim before our eyes.
There is a glow,
it is steady and alluring.
Activity.
Ears ring with repetition,
and infinity shimmers at an inconsistent rate.
We cling and are thrown,
we vomit and brace.
Vehement shaking.
Crimson flares our view,
and white lace swirls.
Continents.
Great oceans greet us.
II
The Arrival
A cushion holds aloft,
and bubbles shine white in surround.
Can we breath?
Open air consumes our lungs once more,
replenished.
The lonely craft surfaces,
and we stare in awe.
Sun beats down our pale scalps,
we treasure the air.
We float in the green-blue,
as streaks flash across clear sky.
Alert.
Steel birds sore above,
projectiles launch.
They speak not as we do,
they attack.
Warnings frighten.
We come in peace,
not in conquest.
They do not understand,
we are idle.
Shafts roar and steam rises,
waves force us back.
We go with them.
III
The Tour
Cannot understand.
Our heads are covered,
and our eyes shaded.
Our attire arranged,
guards guide us.
Wheels of rubber,
loaded barrels.
Dark glass,
and black interior.
The man sneers at we six,
he is bemused.
Hot sun glints off black steel,
the tinted glass rolls itself down.
A face emerges.
Smiles.
She is alarmed at us.
They cannot talk as we do,
we are sad for them.
His words appall,
she worships the hair on her head.
His finger adorns a trigger,
we sit silent.
Beneath us moves,
and our journey continues.
Officials greet,
with smiles.
They treat us as diseased.
Failed diplomacy,
we cannot understand.
Insincere.
Skylights and skyscrapers,
our reflections dim in the looking glass.
Screaming in the night,
tight buckles and leather bonds.
Devices on our heads,
machine buzzing within.
What did we do?
We lose blood,
for their science.
People laugh or stare,
others cower.
Estranged,
they appear no different than us.
Our understanding begins.
IV
The Education
We are belittled,
ancient cracks beneath us.
White walkways,
and green plants.
Sky grows white,
we
seem dim.
Singing,
whistling.
Music,
drums.
Strings.
Men in white coats,
they strap us down.
We understand them not.
Dark fonts glow in our eyes,
‘a’, ‘e’, ‘i’, ‘o’, and ‘u’.
Hand writing.
We can understand.
Questions of idiocy.
We did not form from things small.
Questions of hypocrisy.
Mutations of random design?
They feign science.
City blocks as hoods cover light skin,
summer degrees.
Broken windows,
shattered glass.
Steel chariots on blocks,
diverse sounds pump through the ground.
A constant beat.
Disreputable beauty awaits on the corner,
men squander their currency for this pleasure?
Millionaires sit with the poor,
womanizers are rewarded.
Nakedness is a prized possession.
Shameful.
We are embarrassed.
Disgusted.
Reward is given to the idle.
Innocence is lost by the famous.
Empty religion.
Confessions to a man?
Children suffer,
and parents care not.
Words destroy worlds.
Profanities in our ears.
Make it stop.
Blood on the burning street,
and screaming rings from violence’s long continuity.
They curse their maker.
They laugh,
they scorn.
They cry,
they are selfish.
They lust,
they lie.
They label,
they hate.
They distrust,
they love too much.
What they seek is what they will never find.
They search in vain.
V
The Law of the Land
Overstepping bounds.
We are not allowed to know.
Lies.
Deceit.
Great men once walked this land.
Great men are attacked,
and dishonored.
The booth stands empty,
the handle long since pulled.
Favoritism bought by impressive speech,
a handsome promise.
Support by the deceived flock.
They swear to their maker,
then they murder.
Supreme laws laid down are ignored,
justice is at death’s door.
Faith that once changed,
faith now denied.
We can hear a million screams unheard,
and unborn.
Blinding sun,
we weaken.
Dark interior comforts us.
Defense has been denied,
radicals insist.
Destructive elements lost without wisdom,
decisions changed by fallacy.
They make dependent,
those who were never meant to be.
Manipulation.
Conspiracy.
We are ashamed.
VI
The Decision
The men suspect us,
they cannot make us believe.
We scream,
but they hear us not.
We talk as they do,
and they talk as we do.
They hear what they choose.
Stubborn.
Closed minds.
They will justify their ignorance,
they will build.
They will assume,
they will counterfeit life.
Our disdain is evident.
The men suspect us.
Our ways are not known to them.
We are claims to them.
This is a game.
To them we are machines.
Animals.
To them,
they are animals.
Politics threaten,
we cannot ignore.
We cannot compromise.
They threaten.