Cultured
1.
Forget the words and stories
of your ancestral heart-beat
— isn’t it all a bit twee?
Forget the power and fury
of the blood spilt to define you
— wasn’t it so silly?
Forget the heart and soul
of the culture that binds you
— do you really need that now?
Dismiss as superstition
your people’s sworn traditions
— what weirdo believes in fairies?
Do not speak the tales
of the gods that used to guide you
— what are you, some New Ager?
And soon your children
will forget who they are,
who they were,
the magic in their blood,
the fire in their souls,
just as their conquerers wanted
all along.
2.
It was traditional
to avoid tradition
to bite-back
fight-back
because the traditions
of your blood
were somehow wrong,
the quaint backwardness
of a people that can’t
— simply can’t —
be trusted on their own