GOBELO; THE ELDERS’ HUT

Come let us sit at communal table
Brainstorm the wisdom imbedded
In many a forgotten fable
Whose truth was with time enshrouded.

It is not human to inflict pain
On another for whatever reason.
It is not human to curse the rain
Because you desire another season.

Be not quick to commit your word
To endeavors you may not do.
Be not quick to lay down your sword
Before the war is through.

Be a good gardener tending
Your orchard with wholeness.
Regularly clipping dry leaves
And gathering the cornstalk sheaves.

Stoop low to an elderly man.
Lift up the downtrodden child.
Carry the burden of a woman
When she gathers wood from the wild.

Put your shoulder to the wheel
And grind the grain to pulp.
Yes, strenuous it may feel
Then rest with a maheu gulp.

Look with love at your neighbor’s fortune
Know that every well has a season
And every instrument its tune.
For every thing lies a reason.


Respect the cowardly hunting dog
Its fear saved the master.
Never trust a floating log
Leave the water before it move. Faster.

Smile at misfortune’s visit
For as soon as it departs
Comes fortune to gladly sit
And gather the scattered parts.

Look fairly on nature.
From its bowels you are fed.
Be of stout or slender stature
With hair black, blonde or red.

Smite not a broken man
Always be a protector of the weak
Empty your pot and pan.
Mend your neighbor’s leak.

As the book is closed and pipes dimmed
The speaker with beard untrimmed
Dusts his coat and frowns
At younger men in new gowns.