Parade

It is that moment 
that we see what we did not see. 
How quickly did the weeds grow.
How soon did the wood rot.
How fast the leaves became the soil.
How rudely did a child point 
at all we had carried all this way, 
all of our treasures and trophies,
all our trinkets and triumphs,
exposing them as waste and rubbish. 
We hesitated to lose our loads,
so justly earned, 
so richly deserved, 
even as the smell that we had not yet noticed,
overtook us. 
But we reasoned that the child was foolish 
to not love garbage as much as we,
who were attuned to the vagaries of fashion.
So we bore the burden like martyrs,
and paraded our pride like princes.