History's Lament

A short poem.

History's Lament

History's Lament

Symbols painted on the walls of caves; hunts remembered, seasons recalled.

Lines etched into baked clay; stories told, legends preserved.

Pen and ink make knowledge spread; laws for all to see, wisdom passed form age to age.

What went before could be known; lessons could be learned.

Eyes in the present now so blind to the past; ignorant of mistakes once made.

Those who remember shout their warning; unhearing, youth charges forward into the black.

The elders who lived and struggled point to the path; the young go astray.

What is past is not prologue; it is now and it is later.

Oh, what folly it is to forget; effort, pain and sacrifice go to waste.

Lament that fools do not know; what was is, and again will be.