They take care
Of their own,
And only their own.
They’ll do anything
To protect
Their power.
Destroy people, a nation,
No problem,
Pain personified.
Only thinking of
What they need in
This particular moment,
No consideration of
Anyone around them,
Moving through life on
Cognitive autopilot,
Unaware of anything
Other than themselves,
Oblivious existence.
So hard to be nice,
At least it
Seems that way to them,
Perhaps because
No one was there
To demonstrate,
Maybe because
They refuse to heal.
So, might as well
Bring everyone
Down with them.
Toxicity breeds
In its own universe,
Oozing unhappiness,
Agitated, bitter,
Lashing out furiously
At ever-present foes,
Bringing down with it
All that is not
Like itself.
A comforting summer
Sun envelopes me as I
Pedal up the hill,
Pines keeping me company,
Roads without sidewalks.
Turning into the driveway,
Just a few steps to the
Door where I’m greeted
With love and glee.
It doesn’t take much
To usher in the tyrant,
Just some people who
Don’t see him coming
Because of something
Inside them and who
Invite him to grab the
Whole country in his
Greedy arms, breathing
Heavily with the lust for
Power, importance.
It’ll be his personal
Plaything, one he’ll enjoy
But quickly become bored with
And cast away like all
The other things that
Didn’t bring him joy.
They recognize each other,
Indistinguishable,
Echoing the same message,
No divergence of thought,
Satisfied with repeating
Common duplicate drivel,
Absence of critical thinking,
Ordinariness esteemed,
Swimming with the stream.
What a difference
Between the person who
Feels the suffering
Of another human being
And the one who can’t,
Or won’t.
What dissimilar
Paths they travel and
Worlds create,
One caring,
The other harsh, cruel.
Violent, rigid parenting
Forming people who see
The world as a harsh,
Adversarial nightmare where
Countless imaginary enemies
Must be forced into submission.
An unquenchable yearning for safety;
Single-minded conquest,
Remorseless cruelty.
It’s always the same story,
The damaged imposing their
Will on the vulnerable,
But it doesn’t have to
Be this way.
