Nomads

It is only now 

when you confront their consequences

that you contemplate the possibility 

that perhaps, just perhaps, 

cowardice and complacency 

were never a sound basis

of a long-term strategy.

Even now you believe these were aberrations,

a temporary lapse in otherwise solid standards

that led to disaster and the ruins that surround you.

You will accept the help of the outsiders, 

the awkward squad, the people that don't fit in, 

the people you normally ignore or actively exclude.

You will recruit barbarians into your armies,

tolerate heresies in your cloisters, 

chastise the mob that enforces your rule

by persecuting the very people you now need, 

expose corruption, make inspiring speeches,

and eventually you will reinstate the old glory,

bring back the good times, save civilisation, 

replace acute embarrassment with self-respect,

roll down your sleeves and put back on your gown,

and with wig and epaulette and chains of office,

take up again your seat in court and senate

but you were always like this.

You were always a corrupt complacent coward,

and always will be. The crisis was always inevitable,

and it will happen again, and again, and again.

Evil will always blossom in the stupidity 

and selfishness you cultivate to beguile the mob. 

Nevertheless, when order has been restored

you will still ostracise your saviours,

exile them to the margins from which you summoned them,

or think you summoned them. 

They don't answer your call. 

The wreckage you brought upon yourself

was interesting to them for a while, 

but now your mind is closed again

and your self-delusion is tedious,

and so they return to wander

in the world beyond your understanding, 

beneath stars your city light bleaches from the sky,

in fellowship with birds and beasts you recognise

only as either vermin or as food,

in the wilderness where cowardice is impossible,

and complacency is replaced by wonder and love,

and the pain of exile and solitude subsides 

in the sense of connection with all things,

until your world falls apart, as it inevitably will, 

and you find yourself contemplating 

the same horrific possibilities, 

and you need them once again.