Neanderthal Eco-Grievances

Only two groups of things any human group
Really craves remembering—whatever good
They’ve done and whatever wrong’s been done to them.

Whatever humans survive this era when
Everything’s weather changed, if they’re still human
As humans have been, they’ll see themselves in terms

Of ancestors who were heroes and martyrs
Refusing to be victims, never villains,
Except for some traitors scattered among them

To keep the story interesting. As shores sink,
Armies arm, and each group blames the other one,
Consider how long this has been going on—

Caught between encroaching ice sheets and humans
With slightly different genes moving in waves
From warm lands south of them, did Neanderthals

Gather in clusters for commemorative
Storytelling as they faced the last glacial
Maximum, or was myth-making beyond them?