Children’s Day

We love our children as much as the people of Troy

Loved theirs, people who realized,

By the ninth year of the siege, that time

Was working against them, that they could make sure

Their children wouldn’t be sold into slavery

Only if they were willing to give back Helen,

As the Achaeans demanded, with all her treasure.

The only argument against it was that Trojan honor

Might be sullied by the admission that many had died

In a cause finally not worth the sacrifice.

It hurt their pride too much to admit it,

As it hurts our pride too much to acknowledge

That we haven’t protected the planet under our protection,

The one to be inherited by the children

Whose efforts in crayon festoon our kitchens.

We have to hope it isn’t too late

To change our habits enough so Earth Day

Comes to feature the children of every town on earth

Parading down the local equivalent of Elm Street

Or Main Street crowned with laurel or ivy

And bedecked with flowers they plucked themselves

From the gardens they tend behind their schools.

We have to hope such festivities are more likely

Than the one in Troy that honors the anniversary

Of the day when the siege was finally lifted.

Imagine the Trojan children bedecked with flowers

Dancing down streets never burned to sing in the agora

How once, long ago, Hector the brave led the embassy

That ushered Helen with dignity to the ships.