Song of the Pariah

I see the glorious colonnades,
    steepled chapels, coiling rapturous,
painting the face of God. Audacity!
        Why not we?

The grand plantations swell overhead,
    fields of grass gold grain soil
Festivals harvest doves, dances wafting.
        Why not we?

Oh God, why not we?
Why not we eastern wights?
Give, Give, I want to ask,
but reward deserts the serving.

Oh God burden our backs!
As you did those fore fathers,
In the hardest of schools,
Where men learned to build columns.

Where men learned to cut stone, build temples,
    sacrifices and eucharist,
and learned to give of themselves,
        why not we?

Solon of the East

Editors note: Solon of the East offers this poem to both East and West and we gladly accept.