GIFT OF THE MASAI
				    
	Gift of the Masai

"To the people of America,
we give these cows
to help you"
curls in script across bright, red
cloth, fourteen cows from a village
as sympathy
to Manhattan;
where, with the wonder
of electric current, we watch
screens of celebrities implore
"Only 58 cents a day
will keep a child alive!"
where Kiwanian businessmen will explain
how far 17 cents goes
to prevent blindness.
Maybe a storyteller in Kenya
stood up like that,
told a gathering under bright stars
how far 14 cows could go,
how a tribe without skyscrapers
could reach across the world
with amazing riches.