The Seated

People returned secretly at first

One by one, until they became a long line of seekers

They are those who are pulled by desires they do not understand

Remembering how abundance had rained upon them once

They remember tasting delicacies from a foreign table

They had secretly loved them and desired more

But to their peers and to their allies

They pretended to despise the table

Choosing instead bland gruel

It lacked flavour, colour and nutrition

They turned up their nose at the foreigners

Their wisdom

Their skills

Their wealth.

They returned to their gruel, expecting to find satisfaction again as they had once before.

But they had to forcibly swallow and choke it down

They checked with the cooks

Who looked at them strangely – No one had ever complained before…

They added sugar

They added salt

They added cream

And although it helped a little

It did not satisfy

After all gruel is gruel

Boredom and dissatisfaction grew

And slowly, slowly

One at a time

They looked toward the foreigners and remembered how nice it had been

How fiery, satisfying, interesting, vibrant and warm it had been.

They discovered they began dreaming of those delicacies and all the interesting things they had seen, tasted and heard

Instead they would awaken hungry, cold and miserable.

But those who had secretly loved and desired the foreign table, eventually returned to the foreigners, choosing at last what their hearts truly desired

But pride held the loudest of those who had laughed, to sit with the gruel forever

They refused to embrace the idea of pleasures that were unfamiliar, no matter how lovely they were

But those who left, knew that by doing so, they would be changed forever and would be unable to go back to the awful gruel that had left them hungry, thirsty and malnourished.

They only looked back in sadness at their starving friends who refused to embrace the new or the unfamiliar.