sometimes

the dragon needs to be let loose

sometimes

the noose

will free

untold others

from the tyranny

of manifest destiny

and sometimes

seeing this

is all we need

to understand

how the bowels of a behemoth

can fertilize

history

with the seeds

of the nazarene

or how

a silent conclusion

unknown to anyone

but the life it was choosing to lose

can blink out

nascent delusions

powerful enough

and hollow enough

to become a movement

of millions

willing

to drink from its cup

we are at the gates

and inside of them

we berate

to provoke

and then chase ourselves down

in the name of hope

—yet knowing,

knowing

somewhere

in some time inside

that all of it

is meant

to unwind a coil

set

to crack into dust

in an instant

and relieve us, clean us—

just as the forest is,

through fire from the sky

just as the sea is,

through tempests that churn it

—of the stagnation

of nations

long-too-ignorant,

or the gestation

of minds

far-too-reverent,

to withstand

the eternal breath

of creatures

who will never,

can never,

be held forever

in chains

by the likes

of keepers

such as us

Image: Barandash Karandashich