COLUMBIA

In the land of the craven
short sighted vision
breeds blindness 

and by degrees 
you'll find us

in the weeds strangled
by the debris of our
own lies receding 

as far back as the sea
stretches over the miles

back in time to the dawn
of our lives when innocence 
remembered the combination 

entered was trust in 
our lady of the sand 

for that which we carried 
our last reprimand 

was in the talons 
of freedom's wings
which beat a retreat

across the bloody beach
of history, and each

single one of those
sanctified lies becomes
etched in the lines

of unblinking eyes
that must stare in

the mirror of its own
hijacked self where
lessons like that

are not taught
from a shelf