day SIX HUNDRED and EIGHTY NINE

GREED

Had I been warned many years ago

I would never have believed

that I would live to see greed become

the dominant philosophy of my country.

To hear duty to stockholders held up

as the standard justifying what would

otherwise be criminal business practices.

To hear compassion called un-American,

and kindness referred to as folly,

unless it attaches to a tax credit.

I would never have believed

that I would live to see, in my country,

rising violent anti-Semitism,

officially sanctioned racism,

and unbridled xenophobia

held up as expressions of patriotism,

afforded equal time in the

national consciousness

as though they were simply

differences of opinion among gentlemen.

They who speak thus are not gentlemen.

I would never have believed

that we would again allow

the environment to be held down,

screaming, spread-eagle, by politicians

well paid for their pernicious perfidy

while it is violently gangbanged by

one corporate entity after another

in a line which seems endless.

Had I been warned many years ago

I would still never have believed

my country could sink so low.

Perhaps I have already lived too long.

--M.J. Arcngelini