Columbus Day

A silly little cinder fires first
Into the furnace of an almighty ship.
With boilers burning overtime
To blaze new paths into Portuguese land.
Help the 20,000 year old Indian
Adjust his clock radio.
So he can soon tune in
To the state broadcasting apparatus
And spray corn fields for broken pesos
And blame his naked former kin.
But the forests were built for people,
Or so I hear.
And Christopher Columbus
Had a shotgun and a plan.
He walked through ancient woods
And laughed at burning bushes.
Singing triumphant
To the killing fields he sauntered.
Who skinned the son of a native
And built vessels with his bones.
A man of mystery and myth.
We salute you one day
And the next no more!