The Black Faith

The khan needed an oceanic teacher
To represent his authority as faith.
Thus the Dalai Lama was born. Shamanists

Outside the city of Urga had to flee.
They might have understood the arctolatrists
Of Finland, the totemists of Canada,

The witches of Salem, but they had to find
Their way to survive, their own troubles in mind.
Let us not romanticize these shamanists.

They were not possessed of a unique insight.
They were never innocent of cruelty.
But let's not pretend the Black Faith was all sin.

We all hold out for explanation until
We give in. My sister somewhere has her truth
And would loathe be forced to lose it. Her daughters?