I see his face
Contort, betraying
The inner conflict
That comes from believing
Something that isn’t
True, twisting reality
Into whatever it becomes
When it is extinguished
By raw fear and bias,
Self-preservation at
The expense of others.
The alternative to
Aggression,
Strife,
Anger,
Vengeance,
Hate,
War,
Competitiveness,
Injustice,
Brokenness,
Sadness,
All the tangled
Complications
Wrought by humankind,
Is always there,
Waiting patiently.
Love.
Love for self.
Love for others.
Love for all living beings.
Love for the planet.
Love for the universe.
All-encompassing,
All-healing,
Love.
It was only
When it happened
To her that she
Realized what
Other people had
Been going through
While she and her
Friends were
Putting them down.
Just when it
Seems like things
Couldn’t get more
Appalling, they do.
Standard rules don’t
Apply here,
Just some strange
Perversion.
Passing it off
As normal,
This calamity
Of brokenness.
Incongruously,
An ad appears
On the TV screen
Extolling the
Virtues of the
Ruthless
Industrialists’
Many companies
And how they’re
Woven into the
Very fabric of
Our lives.
A transparent
Attempt at
Whitewashing
Their dark
Legacy just before
They’re exposed
For who they
Really are
And how much
Suffering they’re
Responsible for.
Preemptive
Damage control
Varnishing their
Sordid acts.
He spent his entire life
Trying to avoid that
Feeling, the one he
Remembered from childhood
And never wanted to relive,
Constantly struggling to
Circumvent his inner pain,
Destroying all his
Relationships and making
A lot of people miserable.
He carried it deep inside
Until the very end.
A familiar refrain
Repeated decisively,
Peddled as truth:
Cut taxes on the rich,
The wealth will
Trickle down.
Years and years of
Following this fable
Yield nothing but the
Accumulation of vast
Fortunes by a few,
Famine for the rest.
The middle class shrinking,
The poor forgotten,
The affluent getting fatter,
Everyone else struggling
To run in place,
At the top, celebrating.
They tried to have a
Conversation but it never
Quite seemed to work,
Almost as if they came
From different countries
Or spoke languages the
Other couldn’t understand.
So, they kept it light,
Superficial, avoiding the
Bumps and anything that
Might resemble something
More meaningful.
