Poem: Cadence 1 (The Before, Now, and After)

Cadence 1 (The Before, Now, and After)

In the before times, after the war ceased

When countrymen steeled themselves to rebuild their homes

With steel of heart and mind and soul

They took to their country to steal from the land

By stocking the shelves with stock of themselves

To sell to other motherlands, to countries as pale as steel

From the during times, while the war raged

When pale countrymen of foreign lands gave helping hands

To the Motherland

A mother of a move, to make life improve

And the country arose, from the country roads

The altars of steel found their foundations

From the sale of cut roses

Found and gathered on country roads

Or so the story goes

And away we flew, and away we grew, in the motherlands of other hands

In the after times, when demand rose and hearts froze

Before the war for souls arose

When mothers steeled themselves to rebuild their hearts

That the countrymen sold for better homes

In the now times, when the hands of mothers grow old

And the legacy of countrymen corrodes

The chorus of souls, whose memory holds

Those counted among the roses sold, along the country roads

Beckon back home, from other lands

The stories unfold, and the truth is known

Where countrymen steel themselves to show their hand

From silent corners, from empty shelves

A mother of a move, to reveal their hearts

And steal back time, from the before, now, and after 

Among the altars of steel

Brian Shun

June 2025