The Lion's Pride Lion's Pride Volume 12 (Spring 2019) | Page 25

Conquest
William McKinnie
We've studied quite a bit of poetry over the quarter in Introduction to
Literature, and the best pieces always seem to share two attributes: they
make a broad, insightful observation about humanity or life in general;
and they make an unorthodox, sometimes quirky statement about you,
the reader. This poem has neither, but at least it rhymes.
We came ashore to a new world
Where seas of methane boil;
Our drills and augers came unfurled
And raped the virgin soil.
We popped up tents of metal sheet
And cowered from that sun.
As I reposed in Spartan suite,
We vanished, one by one.
And in the morning I beheld
Nary a soul but me.
And lo, unearthly tracks foretold:
This place held more than "We."
Henceforth, this place was named as "cursed,"
Though you know now—they were here first.