The Barbarians Won

The barbarians have won.

The barbarians and their fascination with gadgets have won, the newest one appearing daily.  Our eyes forever fixed on blinking toys.

The barbarians and their craving for the now have won, clocks all clicking in time.  We march, bedraggled, to the sound of clanging bells.

The barbarians and their printed words have won, page after page stacked and bound.  No matter what we want, they cite a passage of denial; no matter what we avoid, they read a mandate.

The barbarians and their lust for shiny trinkets have won, their new world a wasteland of flashy baubles.  The stars are washed out above us.

The barbarians and their cars have won, sleek tonnage racing along endlessly.  Road kill marks the miles.

The barbarians and their lines have won, squares and rectangles laid about and stacked all around.  The circle of life has been shaved and shoved into corners.

The barbarians and their foods have won, boxed mac n cheese and flour tortilla tacos washed down with Diet Coke.  We check our cholesterol and blood sugar.

The barbarians and their fashions have won, fast and ready to wear.  There’s elastic in our jeans and advertisements on our shirts and hats.

The barbarians and their time have won, clocks spinning and blinking and buzzing.  We march on their schedule.

The barbarians and their bar-bar talk have won, countless languages stricken from mouths and ears.  We can think only this way.

The barbarians and their arrogance have won, their shouted assertions offered up as commandments.  No one can be right who disagrees with them.

The barbarians and their freedom have won, forever doing whatever they want.  Individuals left alone to fend for themselves, to decide what miseries they will inflict upon others or endure alone.

The barbarians and their colors have won, white and gold exalted.  The black and brown discarded.

The barbarians and their bureaucracies have won, victory in triplicate.  We stand in line, waiting to fill out forms and be bound in red tape.

The barbarians and their erasures have won, clean scrubbings of the past.  Can we still remember what the barbarians did?

The barbarians have won, and now we are waiting for them to leave.

I should leave.