Bigger Fences

So Perhaps we should have staked our claim
To this land
This land with its wide openness
Its tall fences
Crisscrossed, fractured, off-limits
We were just a little late.

We were just a little late
Because we didn’t know
Or maybe we didn’t care
For the building process
-The putting up-
Had so much to do with
Taking down and
Marking off.

Nobody was ever dealing
From the top of the deck
Nobody was playing fairly
We were buying high
Selling higher
Cashing in our chips then
Renting luxury condos
By the sea

And it didn’t matter
Things were just getting better
We were safer
-Or so we thought-
Stronger
Our planes flew higher, faster, smarter
Our tongues were quicker
Our logic more incisive

But the reflection of who we were
Didn’t match
It didn’t match the image
Of what we said
Or what we did
When we thought nobody
Was watching
Or if they were
We figured they didn’t care.

But they did
And a few of us did too
Though it was convenient
To say that we were
Self-hating
Myopic, weak, and simple
We banded strong
Until a voice
Could be heard
Or at least a rumbling

But years later
The fences turned to walls
We cut off more land
Their land
Our land
From sea to sea
Draining the aquifers
Draining our Dead Sea
Filling our minds with the madness
That always comes back
To slap you hard
When you have gone too far
When you can’t look back
Without thinking that you might
Have been wrong
And that you might
Not have been right
And all of this doesn't matter
So you just go on.