Triptych

three sons of Uusimaa
washed upon a foreign shore.

the first
shrugged and grunted and planted himself fast
and there toiled to build a house
rooted in worldly wickedness
but the beetles came and stripped him of flesh as he slept
and he was no more

the second
scorned his brothers earthly failings
and contrived a cathedral to the Lord of hosts
but he could not carry above one course of stones
and to this house he bought the shame of his pride
so threw himself into the sea

the third
unknowingly carried the hopes of the ages
he sat naked among the trees and beasts and wheat
and constructed nothing
but listened to the song of the land
and learned the way man should be.

Martin Ricardo-Jones