THE CRY OF THE KARST MOUNTAINS: AN ODE TO MASUNGI

Jagged daggers jutting from the bowels of the earth

The mountain that nourishes the city lies muted

For there are stories of corruption that gave birth to the betrayal

Of those who protect by those whom the law has protected

This is a land that was about to give up on hope

And then courage took over profit, to plant the seeds

That now lend voices to the inarticulate beauty, the whispers of streams

The blowing of the gentle wind, the enduring courage of the karst.

Spider webs. Butterfly nets. Rock gardens.

Facing off with human atrocities that intrude like eyesores

Brooks replaced by artificial pools, land fenced off and titled

All armed and enabled by those whom the law has protected.

Now the one who protects is assaulted by those whom the law has protected

The silence of the queen, the betrayal of a dead woman who signed the contract

Those with power mobilize those who regulate as they cower and join the attack

And we now see the specter of prisons and artificial pools muting the karst mountains.

The only hope is for those who care to march up the mountains

To join hands against the forces that are ranged against

The spider webs, butterfly nets and rock gardens of that place.

With karst rocks jutting from the bowels of the earth, like jagged daggers.