Fond Memories (POETRY)

​You had fond memories of dismal days
and thus returned to Ireland when you could.
If only we could imitate your ways!

Turns out that unpaid labor truly pays.
You were enslaved and generated good.
You had fond memories of dismal days

as only heroes can. The lad who prays
may confidently do the deeds he should.
If only we could imitate your ways

of sainthood! We instead make vain displays
of piety in safety’s neighborhood.
You had fond memories of dismal days,

but we cling to our pleasures, begging praise
for tiny things. At ease in this dark wood,
if only we could imitate your ways!

​Well, we’re mere sheep — and thus content to graze.
We listened — but we never understood.
You had fond memories of dismal days.
If only we could imitate your ways!

This was previously published on Flammeus Gladius on March 17, 2023.