anthropology

Dances through time

Folder: 
Poems

Ancient rites, once revered, now reel

In playgrounds where children peal

With laughter, unaware of the seal

That time has placed on what was real.

 

Solemn steps of shamans past

Morph into games that last and last,

As cultural currents, swift and vast,

Erode the essence, unsurpassed.

 

Tribal truths, once held so dear,

Trickle down through time's frontier.

Sacred symbols disappear,

Leaving echoes faint but clear.

 

Profound becomes profane, we find,

As generations leave behind

The weight of wisdom, once enshrined,

Now light as air and unconfined.

 

From archaic altars to schoolyard scenes,

The dance of time intervenes,

Transforming what tradition means—

A metamorphosis of memes.

 

So sacred turns to silly play,

As yesterday fades into today.

Yet in this change, we might survey

The threads that bind us, come what may

Author's Notes/Comments: 

This poem was inspired by Sir James George Frazer and his theories discussed in The Golden Bough.

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Author's Notes/Comments: 

It is still a mental note to aid in my self-directed learning about writing a haiku.  I'm a tyro (at this), it means I'm a beginner.