Advantages

If you’ve grown up with a
Certain set of advantages
It’s natural to not be aware of them,
After all, they were always there,
You could just enjoy what they
Did for you without worrying about why,
Or whether it was fair or not that
They weren’t available to others.
For your fellow human beings
Without those advantages,
The world is a very different place,
One where they may not have access to
The things you did, where they have
To work more to succeed less or
Live under an intractable cloud
Threatening to wash away their dreams.
For those in shadow,
The light looks very different.

Moment to Moment

They get up each day
And do whatever it takes
To maintain the status quo,
Keep everything as stable
As possible, avoid
Anything resembling courage,
Eschewing authenticity
In favor of familiarity,
Comfort, sameness,
Just trying to make it
Moment to moment,
An ordinary existence,
Devoid of passion.

Short Attention Spans

Now softened by
The filter of time and
Short attention spans,
They trot him out
To make small talk,
Fawning over how
Friendly he appears,
Forgetting that this
Is the monster
Born of privilege that
Did so many cruel things
To vulnerable people,
Pandering to the worst
Elements in our society,
Setting the stage for
Where we are today,
A swaggering fraud,
Insecure to the core.

A Heart Drained

Something must have
Happened to close his mind,
Rendering him unable to
Understand suffering.

Innocence and hope
Dashed at a vulnerable age,
When life should
Be rosy.

A heart drained of its
Ability to feel,
Vitriol replacing
Kindness.

Nothing at All

Doing nothing at all
And still enjoying
Each other’s company.

Thoughtful conversations
Imbued with empathy,
Listening, depth.

Silly jokes
About anything
And everything.

Lone Frontiersman

The lone frontiersman
Who lives by his
Sheer grit and determination,
Fending for himself
Against all odds,
Not beholden to anyone,
A rugged individualist
Who kowtows to no one,
Takes care of himself
And his own and never
Asks for outside help,
An outdated construct
Invoked to undermine
Social conscience,
The greater good,
Civilized society.

Ensuring

He relives not only
The trauma,
But also the expectation
That it remain a secret
So as not to blemish a
False image of respectability,
Along with being told
It was his fault
In the first place,
That situations like this
Are normal anyway,
Forcibly wiring his forming brain,
Ensuring a lifetime of torment.

Not Previously Conceived

It stares back at me
Daring me to do something,
To create anything
Of consequence, some idea
Not previously conceived,
A feeling revealed anew,
Some treasure that
Lends new life to an
Unsuspecting passerby.

An Old Tree

An old tree stands
Alone on the edge
Of the pond,
The last one of
His family to enjoy
The gentle breeze
Blowing across the
Water, the birds
Visiting from faraway
Places, the people
Resting in its shade,
The magic of being.