Sleep

Empires by the hundreds have fallen,
fallen to sleep, leveled and laid low,
all of their works and joys cast into the wind -
The tribes of man have dispersed, fallen,
fallen to sleep, ejected into the chaotic diaspora
all of their ways and customs cast to the wind -

The ever-expanding sands of antiquity encompass
all things; the relics of each era, each age,
exists in permanence only there, as in the living world,
all of them sleep.

The culminations of thousands of human relationships have fallen,
fallen to sleep, torn apart by false promises,
all of the rings and broken dreams cast to the wind -
Dreams by the billion fall,
fall to sleep, distracted and pulled away,
so many aspirations cast to the wind -

The shells of love lost and crumbled dreams,
their sad anguish manifesting as crumbled castles on those sands,
will exist forever, forever crumbling but never quite to naught,
all of them sleep.

The Great Wall of China, whose purpose has long since fallen,
fallen to sleep, a powerful idea relegated pointless from time,
all of those noble aspirations cast to the wind -
That brief period of the proletariat, whose nation and idealism has fallen,
fallen to sleep, a beautiful idea - leaving only statues behind,
all of those concepts of equality and idealism cast into the wind -

Is what could have been the wonder of a lifetime,
the transcendental, singular connection - to calcify, to
stand forever on those sands, an effigy to all that could have been?
Is it to be, like so many things, cast into the winds?
Will it disintegrate, eroded by those very winds it was cast into?
Is it to be yet another, 'c'est la via,' are we to become fallen -
are we, too, to sleep?