Footprints on the Moon

By Charlotte Zheng, The Bishop's School '29

Artwork by Leanne Fan, Westview High School, '26

Footprints on the Moon

It’s quite poetic when you think about it 

Footprints on the Moon 

Iridescent dust 

Hardly touched

We fight because 

there are things worth fighting for

But how do you know

When to stop?

When have we ever stopped?

It’s all made up.

Socially constructed.

Man made.

The words on this page.

Your thoughts as you read this.

But how do you know

That any of it’s 

real?

We have far too much hubris.

Every man’s fatal flaw.

Don’t think too hard about it.

You’ll drive yourself mad.

We destroy

We rebuild

We rise

We fall

We repeat

We, we, we, we

It’s always “we”

When will we learn

That it’s not always about 

us?

We’re animals, too.

They have thoughts,

Feelings,

Too.

Ignorance.

It’s quite ironic when you think about it.

Defined by man

Yet ignored by man who couldn’t care less.

We say 

we do things for the greater good

“All of humanity”

I’m sure you’ve heard that one before.

And yet.

We ignore. 

Not just the creatures around us

But each other.

When will we learn,

To embrace the “we”

And 

Not

Oppress the “them”?

When there’s so much fighting

Not particularly for honorable reasons

How can you say

That anything’s worth fighting for

When we fight over everything?

When you think about it more, 

it’s really not so iridescent.

It’s grey. 

Bland, even. 

Supposed to be untouched

They didn’t know what they meant.

Ignorance.

They knew. 

but we couldn’t help it, 

could we?

Footprints on the moon.