A troubling nightmare realized,
The order of things turned
Upside down in a deliberate
Assault on decency and kindness.
No semblance of empathy remains,
Pillage to your heart’s content,
Nothing matters but money,
The righteous new way.
This is my land,
My house,
My vehicles,
I own them and
Nobody’s going to
Tell me what I can
And can’t do
On my own property,
This is a free country,
I’ll do what I want
And if anybody
Has a problem with that,
Then things are going to
Get ugly very quickly.
Smiling as he votes
For reprobates who will
Butcher the vulnerable,
He feels like his
Cherished slice of the
Exclusionary pie
Remains his to enjoy.
Who do these people
Think they are,
Trying to get their filthy hands
On my stuff?
I’ve worked hard for
What I’ve got.
They need to go back
To where they came from.
He can choose
Any path really,
His wealth allows him
To pretty much do
Whatever he wants,
Whenever he wants,
In any way
He wishes to.
It’s not so hard
To make someone
Else’s life a
Little easier,
More rewarding,
Worthwhile,
Empires can be built
With kindness,
Sharing doesn’t have
To be an expletive.
He elects to
Pay low wages.
Perceiving his underling
As a threat,
He devises a scheme
To ease the interloper out
Through a series of
Skewed evaluations
Conducted by a perhaps
Unknowing lackey.
It works.
Absence of fingerprints,
Nobody higher up notices,
The object of his fear
Leaves shattered.
He smiles to himself,
Feeling much safer
For a moment.
And so we find ourselves
Where we’ve always been,
Ignoring sincere pleas
For peace and love and
Hurtling instead toward
Facile vengeance,
The familiar path to
Collective misery,
Huddled in enclaves
Terrified of others,
Darkness strangling the light.
Don’t give up on the dream,
Remember that we’re
Capable of much better
Than out-of-control
Fear and hatred,
There’s another path and
We’re the ones to walk it.
A single pizza purchased
Equally by several people.
Two ravenous vultures
Devour more pieces while
Indifferently telling the others
They should have been quicker.
Regrettable behaviors
Repeated thoughtlessly,
Punctuating self-centered,
Empty existences.
A sudden hush
Interrupts the mirth,
Uncomfortable downward stares.
Beaming in his chair,
He revels in his obnoxiousness,
A well-honed ability
To annoy everyone around him.
That’ll show them,
He thinks to himself,
Every day a battle against
Nice people
Who care about the world
And each other.
Nobody wants
To be on the bottom,
Especially not them,
Which makes them
Supremely susceptible
To anyone suggesting
They can regain
Their former glory,
Which never really
Existed in any form.
