0 Mirrors of the future,
record of the past
the murals of Cacaxtla
tell our story.
Frog and bird totems
of eternal hope
surround the peaceful farmer
and remind me of our
spring of the flower children.
These are the happy murals
before the great war.
A war which came with black painted warriors
and their jaguars and serpents.
They have their feet on the necks
of the red painted captives.
This ugliness looks like
the steel engravings
of our slave trade or
political cartoons of our bleak
political present.
Spring peace and happiness followed
by winter of death and despair.
Spring will come again but for some
the memory of winter will linger.
What need have the rememberers
to remind those who have forgotten?
Were the painters of the murals
telling us of the ebb and flow
of our lives?
Or were they caught in the
time box of each event?
For those who remember have not found a way
for there to be spring without winter.