We are still dropping bombs
While people starve and live hand-to-mouth on the streets
We still have our air-conditioning and well stocked fridges
While other people evacuate homes beset with catastrophe
Floods, fires, rising tides, drought, famine, war, mass executions and plagues
Everything is for sale, it isn’t personal, it’s only business, you know
But it turns out everything is personal
Corporations see nothing but opportunities to profit
When they see people suffering
And the earth is a slot machine rigged to pay off
To everyone who is willing to exploit
Greed and Corruption are seductive hosts circulating elegantly
Among the mostly Caucasian masked guests recruiting disciples
Who thirst lasciviously for even the briefest glance or hint of a smile
A nod that means tacit approval by the ones who pull the strings
All of it imagined as we hope for something to dispel the dread
Oozing out from between the bars where we keep our hearts imprisoned
We we got our invitation to this party when we chose to think
‘What is best for me is what is best for everyone else’
We rejected ‘what is best for everyone else is what is best for me’
As the foolishness of overly idealist and naive adolescents
We are so enamored with ourselves we can’t see
The most selfish thing we could do in this life
Is make life great for everyone else
The most certain path to success
Is to help other people achieve their dreams
Instead we scrabble and scramble and hustle for advantage
Competing for fleeting glory before it all ends
We care not about the mess we leave in our wake as we move on
To the next party hosted by Arrogance and Lust
Now they are one hot couple
I heard The Stones are playing
Wonder if they’ll do ’Satisfaction?’
Let our messes be cleaned up by our grandchildren
If our children have been foolish enough to become parents
For we are God’s anointed and he has blessed us
Our fate is ordained and we will not suffer
Suffering is for those who were not chosen
That’s the way it has always been
It’s the way it was meant to be
At least that’s the way we imagine it
Besides, we can’t be bothered with our messes…
We must get ready for the next party
Photo by Black Iris Visuals via Unsplash
