Lightning Strikes the Tower

Once upon a time,
 there was a tower built on shaky ground of  bones and blood.
It was a dazzling and glossy beacon, day and night.
Townsfolk saw it as a symbol of their trust in fate.
Its stability meant they were safe from the vagaries of fortune.

The people were known for their honesty, prudence, fortitude and charity.
They were smug in their trust that the tower would hold.
Over time, their sloth got in the way.
Mendacity became common. Trust died.

The centuries passed,
Children weren't  taught goodness and mercy.
Cheating and greed gained acceptance. 
The ground on which the Tower stood began to subside.

False beliefs flourished.
Vindictiveness and maliciousness were standard.
Confusion reigned. no one could be trusted.
The situation was becoming dire.

Zeus looked down in horror.
The pleasant, amiable folk were no longer.
He was mightily offended and vowed to end it.
He summoned Uranus to his side.

Uranus, father of Cyclopes: Brontes, Steropes, and Arges,
 devised a plan.
 His sons would craft powerful lightning bolts,
raining destruction on the Tower,
to bring the people to enlightenment.

Came the day that the bolts were launched.
Devastation ensued.
The Tower, already on shaky ground.
was slammed with bolt after bolt.
People  leapt from the windows to their death.

Chaos ensued. 
Upheaval, trauma, disaster, tragedy 
and revelations were at hand.
The people cowered before the destruction.
Their ambition and goals were built on false premises.

For scores of years, the land lay desolate and barren.
Until, one day, an itinerant scholar happened by.
He spoke humbly to the chastened townsfolk.
They learned the error of their ways and
vowed to live in  goodness and mercy.

The story is eternal. It happens oft and again.
Towers built on shaky ground will fall.
The only way out...is through.

©Ellen Pepper 2026


https://youtu.be/GYpshNj3Y4o