Pain

                                     PAIN

The Emperor likes to inflict pain

            Because it gives him such delight,

Not necessarily for any gain.

            It just displays his might.

A Time to Choose

 A TIME TO CHOOSE

There is a war going on.

The land is torn by civil rages.

It has been going on for ages.

It may go on long after we are gone.

***************

On one side stands love, sorority, and fraternity.

On the other stands hatred and fear.

The battle is at hand; it is here.

It is a time to choose, for now and eternity.

Semiquincentennial

 SEMIQUINCENTENNIAL

It is the 250th anniversary of the Declaration.

That was a Mission Statement for our nation.

Inquiring minds wanted to know,

What do we tell friend and foe?

                    **********

We said some truths were self-evident,

And knowing them did not require a docent.

We said, "All men are created equal."

Yes, we should have said "people."

                    **********

But, that's what we were all about,

That's what we wanted to shout

From sea to shining sea,

Something on which we could all agree.

                    **********

Now it seems there is a glitch.

The powerful and the rich

Do not see all the people

As created equal.

                    **********

Some, they say, are more equal

Than the rest of the people.

And America is not our land,

America is their land.

                    **********

And only those who have the cash

Should celebrate our birthday bash.

They never read the document

That said some truths were self-evident.

A New Pharaoh

 A NEW PHARAOH

The Emperor said he was Moses,

            Leading us to the Promised Land.

But he was a new pharaoh,

            Leading us into bondage.

What else could he have been?

He was born to wealth,

            Inherited wealth,

                        Loved wealth.

How could he know what it meant

To struggle?

            To suffer?

                        To cry in the night?

He had never cried in the night.

            He had never suffered.

                        He had never struggled.

He had never wandered lost in the Wilderness,

            Like Moses.

The New American Dream

 THE NEW AMERICAN DREAM

We are the children of immigrants,

            But we hate immigrants.

We praise those who work hard and play fair,

            Unless they come from elsewhere.

We love America,

            But we hate our fellow Americans.

We revere the American Dream,

            But we hate those who dare to dream.

This is the new American Dream.

Powerful Predators

 POWERFUL PREDATORS

Powerful predators prowl the land.

It was once the land of the free.

Now the people flee

And dare not take a stand.

            ***************

The powerful predators pay no price

As they feed on the small and the weak,

For the people are too meek

To free themselves from the powerful vise.

            ***************

It is a sad end to the land of the free,

As the people exchange their freedom

For an impoverished serfdom

And live their lives on bended knee.

The Psychopath

 THE PSYCHOPATH

For the Emperor, cruelty was a choice.

But it was also a reflex action.

It was his second nature.

It was his basic instinct.

It was his worldview:

            Never be soft,

            Never show mercy,

            Never show tenderness.

Crack the whip,

Wield the club,

Strike with an iron fist,

Stride in hobnailed boots,

And laugh at the cries of your victims.

It was the code of a psychopath.