(for reciting with soft drumming)

The armies of darkness
disguised as conquistadores
dog-headed demons
grotesque marauders
brandishing pikes
swords, spears and axes
advance slowly, stealthily
toward the defenceless
family of Joseph
and Mary and their
holy son

Meanwhile the sweet sounding
water drums
beaten with mallets
give rise to a soft
steady rythm
while singers chant
the ancient deer songs
invoking a world
whose ethereal beauty
echoes the desert
revived after rain
but with colors even
more vivid
a vision of purity
while the deer dancer
a deer's head and antlers
above his own head
slowly sways to and fro
in a trance

And just as the warriors
are poised to attack
the friends of Jesús
unarmed
few in number
rush to the great mounds
of flowers before them
throw the bright flowers
at the forces of evil
and watch as the enemy
army collapses
and falls to the ground

It's a teaching
a vision
a spirit world seen
through the eyes of a deer
who like every messiah is
quick but no predator
wary and vulnerable
worldly and outside this world

And the drama continues unfolding
before us
the flower world
facing the armies so bent
on destroying
whatever is precious
while there at the center
a dancer
in trance holds the vision
that redeems us all