Silent Voices

Laugh Not at a Fallen Friend

58 His True Identity (First published in Songs for Tomorrow, edited by Oscar C. Lambang) green snake, green snake perfectly camouflaged in tall green grass of bounty passing for a harmless worm crawling around to aid food digestion in the stomachs of those bothered by indigestion and to feed birds that fly about without a crumb to settle on but now on them he pounces his fangs secreting venom betraying his true identity Laugh Not at a Fallen Friend As your friend’s crown is chopped down in humiliation To bring him completely down cautious should you be For yours too may soon be plucked off for more disgrace Simple truth is his may not fit your crest And if you venture to bend and pick it to possess You’ll find yourself stooping down for your turn to crash 59 Open your mouth to laugh in derision As he stumbles to a mortifying fall and find yourself Pulled down by the dreadful force of your laughter Those that are crest-fallen, pushed into misery May neither be too low in grade, unskilled Nor among those wrapped in sabotage and crime That he is pushed down to degrade his corpus may be A simple act of jealousy, malice, or fear Of the mediocre, less skilled, the mean crop Guarded By Thirty-two White Warders He has been held prisoner Since he was eighteen In that special cell guarded By thirty-two trained, Strong, white warders, vigilant Unblinking, keeping Watch over him day and night To keep him secure Within the strong white-manned fence To restrain and stop Him from launching another Most catastrophic Wide-impact, far-reaching bomb, The type that can bring The force of your being spinning To an instant halt. ...