LUPUS EST AGNUS SED NESCIT

[Stanza I]
The river keeps speaking though no throat remains.
The red in the water names no victor.
Silence judges louder than teeth.
A full stomach cannot digest innocence.
The forest records both hunger and fear.
Power proves nothing once echoes begin.
The fallen face mirrors the standing one.
The crime survives longer than the meal.

[Stanza II]
“You troubled my stream before you drank.”
“Your reflection insulted my crown.”
“Your kind offended my sleep last year.”
“Your existence disrupts my right.”
“I punish you to preserve order.”
“I speak because strength is evidence.”
“I invent reasons to justify appetite.”
“I call domination justice aloud.”

[Stanza III]
“The current flows downward, not to you.”
“My thirst arrived after your shadow.”
“I was unborn when your anger began.”
“My voice is smaller than your claim.”
“I do not compete for your sky.”
“I drink only what falls freely.”
“I stand where gravity placed me.”
“I exist without stealing your breath.”

[Stanza IV]
One drinks above, one drinks below.
One fears judgment, one fears survival.
One speaks loudly, one answers gently.
One sees rival, one sees neighbor.
The same water shapes both faces.
The same earth steadies both legs.
The same sun warms both backs.
The same end awaits both names.

[Stanza V]
Each eye contains the other’s outline.
Each wound recognizes itself.
Each voice answers its own echo.
Each role rotates unseen.
Predator and victim share a border.
Accuser and accused trade masks.
Dominance and weakness swap seasons.
Self meets self wearing fur or wool.

[Stanza VI]
Compassion multiplies what force divides.
Cooperation feeds longer than conquest.
Empathy dissolves imaginary distance.
Elevation requires two hands rising.
Power grows where dignity is shared.
Justice breathes only among equals.
Mercy prevents future teeth.
Understanding interrupts the fable.

[Stanza VII]
No hatred existed before the story.
No hierarchy lived inside the water.
No guilt slept in unborn bones.
No victory waited in the forest.
Only hunger without language wandered.
Only fear without target trembled.
Only life without comparison moved.
Only mirrors before interpretation stood.

[Outro]
The lamb drinks.
The wolf drinks.
The river drinks them both.
And neither yet knows
they are the same reflection.