Repositioning
Their masks,
Playing
Meticulously
Sanitized characters.
Time dutifully
Alters perception
Until it barely
Resembles anything
Tangible.
They try to go back,
But reality has an
Unsubtle way of
Imposing itself on
The wishful.
It’s painfully clear
That everything
We thought would
Happen will,
Depravity having
Its moment on stage,
Plunging
All else
Into darkness.
Trying to find some
Semblance of feeling
Behind those lifeless eyes,
But there isn’t any,
Extinguished by some
Authority figure who
Taught him that
The world is a
Very hard place and
That he should
Be harder.
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.
He’s furious about
The customer service agent
With an accent but
Not at all concerned about
Ravenous corporations
Taking advantage of human beings
In impoverished countries,
Paying them a pittance.
She’ll never wake up and
Wonder why she hurt
So many people,
A mechanism acquired from
Broken adults who never learned
How to be nice to others and
Passed it on to the
Next generation just as
Had been done to them,
Perpetuating reprehensible
Behavior labeled normal.
They mean business,
They’ll do anything
To get what they want,
Remorselessly destroy all
Obstacles in their path,
Including the planet
Where they live,
Just to try to silence
The voice inside that tells
Them they are insignificant,
The same one they
Heard when someone
They trusted betrayed them
And made them
Lose all hope.
