What seemed initially
To be exactly what
She always wanted
Turned out to be a weight
Around her neck,
A constant reminder
That things would
Never be the same,
That she very well
Might have chosen the
Absolutely wrong path and
Would never be able
To admit it to anyone.
Expending an inordinate,
Excruciating amount of
Effort, he was able to
Mistrust and vilify people
Whose sole trespass was to
Live compassionately,
Peacefully, harmoniously.
The gall of these
Interlopers, vying for
Turf, position,
Raze relations, raise a
Wall of concrete reinforced.
Clean up on the outside.
Some look forward,
Others retract.
Trying to revive,
Relive, reproduce,
The past too easily
Becomes a disheartening
Disappointment, what promised
To be so magical supplanted by
A cold slap of reality,
Reverie interrupted,
Fragments scattering,
Never to be recovered
No matter how hard
One searches.
Sadness surrounds
The gatekeeper,
So many precious hours
Spent making things
More convoluted,
Blocked, obstructed,
Rather than helping,
Pathological need to
Control driving base lust
For petty power.
Things are more difficult
Around here,
Thanks to me,
That’s how I matter.
Let me tell you
Something about
The world: It’s a
Cold, dark, savage
Place where the only
Way to survive is to
Kill or be killed.
Forget all this
Touchy-feely stuff
About diversity or
Diplomacy, the only
Thing people understand
Is a harsh slap
Across the face.
My bomb is bigger
Than yours, that’s all
That matters, your
Ideas about peace and
Collaboration are
Only naive
Pipe dreams.
Walking along a familiar
Path, I look up and
Marvel at the leaves
Of a particular tree
I had not noticed before.
Later, In a strangely
Serendipitous coincidence,
Someone asks me a question,
I respond that I’m the guy
Who looks at the leaves.
When they feel
Empty inside
They urgently try to
Fill the hole,
Satisfy the cravings,
Find meaning anywhere,
Still the noise,
Buttress inner atrophy.
An unforgiving parasite
Sucking the hope out of
All who approach.
Hidden deep inside,
Plainly manifest.
They chopped down the
Beautiful tree that
Graced their yard.
Not because it was sick,
Or encroaching on something,
But because they could.
He sits down and
Immediately opens his
Huge mouth and says
Something ridiculously
Offensive about someone
He’s never met or
Something he knows
Absolutely nothing about,
A smug smile covering
His ordinary face,
Not an ounce of insight
Clouds his horizon.
