Once we made gold that sweetened
the drink of Egyptian kings,
elixir of gods.
Once our god was an ebony gold
that drove our machines
and drove countries to war.
Once we beat our wings
at the sun, our castle
a colossus that hummed.
Once we made wings and flew
past the sky to a planet turned
silver by the sun.
Once an empire, the droning axis
around which all life on earth
would exist.
Once we clung to our opposite
poles, ignorant of what we
did to the earth.
Once we were honey bee victims
of virus, dead bodies dropped
like dust on the street.
Once we were human victims
of virus, stacked with our dreams
inside freezer trucks.
Now a virus changes the story
for each of us. We were both
empires once.
