MISSIVUS *
With a crisp salute
the fortune cookie
yields its
treasure.
“A message will reach
you from far away.”
Typed paper slip,
tiny missive
far removed from
ancient Chinese characters;
ink, brush, papyrus
and the almond hand that created it.
Ricochet
to modern day.
Satellites orbiting
Earth
trailing wakes of
asteroid dust,
and the new noise of
the human generation.
Beaming celluloid
Beaver Cleaver reruns,
to the far reaches of the galaxies.
Broadcasting…
across the ages.
"Are we reaching?
After a word from our sponsors,
we will explore the mysteries
of the thirteen crystal skulls
no humans could have fashioned.”
Message thwarted
Moses’ missive
from the Mount;
carved in stone,
heralded by a burning bush.
Message received.
As the Trojan horse
pauses at the gates,
the soldiers
sweat with fear.
‘Peace offering,'
masquerading
as Athena’s gift.
Envoy of
the downfall of Troy.
Message received.
The Bishop bends
to kiss the flame of the torch
to the pile of gnostic books.
Afterwards, ashes cooling,
when the faraway queen
unties the scroll
from her raptor’s claw,
she will gasp at the contents.
Messages thwarted.
Pioneer of sound,
Radio god Marconi,
tapped in morse, “Can you hear me?”
Message received.
D-Day
Verlaine’s poem signaled
Allied forces
with the first three lines;
‘Sabotage rail lines.’
Message received.
Television screens flicker with
a kingly candidate
speaking words of equality.
He reaches into the grasping crowd…
and shakes their hands.
They relieve him of his cufflinks;
a pair a day;
Memento Mori:
Message received ~
Inside Hawking’s nutshell,
we explore,
“Is the universe shrinking
or expanding?”
We are told…
both.
Message relativity.
Paleolithic shamans
press pigment-coated
warm hands to cold stone.
Transferring
hunting magic
to cave walls.
“We are here.
Buffalo here.”
Message received.
“Mr. Watson come here,
I want to speak with you.”
crows Bell.
thereby connecting us forever.
Message Received.
Continents away,
a bottle washes up
crumpled slip inside
to a deserted shore.
Message thwarted.
In the fluorescent halls of
Berlin’s Archaeology wing,
a scientist delicately lifts
a fragment of
Elephantine
Egyptian scroll
to the magnifying glass,
powerless as it
crumbles to dust.
Message thwarted.
But, The People
Still have Faith.
Any day now,
a pony express rider
will venture over the
snow-bound pass;
rough-shod and leathery
with The crucial letter
that bears the
True News
and Hopes
of the World.
~ We are safe ~
Message received.
~
*From Midievil Latin 'missivus,'
from mittere - to send
