Before the Day

Once, there was a planet not
Without mercy but never
With enough to go around.

Mercy was rationed. Creatures
Worked in alternating shifts—
Close to mercy, far from it.

Eventually, everyone
Found some. That was the nature
Of mercy, always to be

Eventually merciful.
But it was never enough
At any moment to cloak

The whole planet in one grace,
So the world teemed with creatures,
More and more and more around,

All in need of some mercy
But making do, best they could,
Until that day came for them.