When the Days Died

When the Days were new, Did they weep to see their shining world? Did they know the eternity they faced? The Days were free spirited and young The concept of time not yet born They danced through the emerald meadows Twirling and singing songs of joy With sunbeams and starlight as playmates And beds of daffodils and dew The Days gave no thought to Man They only laughed to see him The primitive, bumbling Neanderthal Speaking in tongues and striking stones In the beginning, Man loved the Days He named them in his pretentious way Calling them his and giving them order Monday was stubborn while Friday was friendly Wednesday remained neutral and Saturday sleepy Man fancied the Days tamed but they just laughed And carried on with their dance He waltzed with each in their turn Impartial to one or the other Always focused on his partner alone But then in his eagerness and egotism Man began to compare the Days, to measure them To count out their meter and rhythm He layered their dance with minutes and hours And the Days began to lose their joy Soon Man forgot he danced with Monday And thought only of Tuesday Anticipating her sweeter embrace And her lighter, easier step Though when within Man’s greedy reach She was not enough to satisfy his need And Thursday became the more alluring With her twilight locks set free And her dress of silky moonbeams The Days came to resent Man’s abuse They cringed in pain at his heavy touch And cried for their sisters As Man cast them away when he pleased Soon the Days deserted Man to mourn Their laughter buried deep within the earth He danced on so foolishly and without care So caught by the future Days That he had forgotten the present The Day’s meadows were slowly buried Beneath the concrete weight of Man’s hurried step Their joy choked on the smog of his song And from their beds grew his oil rigs and metal The Days were poisoned by Man’s kind They faded like rainbows on the edge of the desert And Man never paused to ask Did the Days weep to see their broken world? Did the Days die of shame?