Swords

Swords

This body, Arjuna, is called the field.

Found in academic digs,

swords of conquest rust now

     in grids expanded

          across barren fields.

          Spears, too, rot beneath

     old marshes, but some are

preserved along with warriors,

brown now, unoxidized in peat.

     Know that war and strife

          have plagued mankind

through eons. None unloved

     have ventured to cure hate.

Those conquerors are gone.

          This goes without saying.

     Those whose discourse conceals

avarice cloak themselves in piety.

[persona]