elites see elites

first contact assumed
emissaries & eminence

failed to consider
exiles, escapees,
transported prisoners

overlooked Terran history
left governments scrambling
to react to the unanticipated

because
when the day of first contact arrived
image building & negotiation
were set aside

in the face of a flood of refugees
escaping impressment

and while compassion & protection
are summoned
to give new visitors succor

the elites make plans
for meeting the aliens
whom the refugees flee


—Herb Kauderer