I sit among the aged, infirm,
in the hospital room
and know I am aged, infirm.
Unlike some I do not cry:
'where did the time go?'
I know where it went.
A lot of excitement.
A lot of fulfillment.
Frustration
at not improving the world
gnaws at me daily.
I do not believe
in judgment day,
having spent many days
judging, being judged,
too often found wanting
in the ideals I aspire to.
At this time I think the good
outweighs the bad,
but I have not learned
how to measure
positive accomplishments.
I frequently remember
the evil I have done
that burdens me now,
not concerned with the afterlife.
Just the ongoing worry
that the pain and suffering
I caused out of anger,
indifference, ignorance,
may still effect some.
Others I knew are departed
and there is no restitution,
no atonement,
for there is no erasing
bad deeds of the past.
Climate change is controversial,
many denying it’s real,
but most are unqualified
to decide,
offering opinions, not facts,
rejecting conclusions
from scientists,
reminiscent
of the ignorant
in the Middle Ages,
claiming the world was...
Year after year they dragged the stones
for a memorial
to the dead.
And it was a mighty work,
the greatest engineering marvel
of the ancient world
conveniently located
in the desert,
so when a stone fell
it only killed a slave,
the machinery of the times.
And it still stands
thousands of years later,
though no longer sanctified
as a place for the dead.
A new building goes up
in midtown Manhattan
on Madison Avenue
and 42nd Street,
a dense part of the city.
And as it soars
day after day
in the city of skyscrapers,
the wonderful construction
does not interfere
with the busy life around it.
Tourists stop nearby,
photo Grand Central Terminal,
a noble edifice,
and never notice
the incredible rise
of a shimmering spire
proclaiming modernity,
not dropping a stone
that would not fall in the desert,
but land on pedestrians,
killing and injuring many,
instead a testament
to modern achievement.
A leaf trembles, falls,
flutters to the ground
does not decompose
on unwelcoming concrete,
does not nourish
new life.
America,
no longer beautiful,
unwelcoming to immigrants
once the composition
of a great empire
that nurtured many,
despite the oligarchs
who allowed the middle class
to briefly flourish.
Then greed and selfishness prevailed
and the oligarchs abandoned the nation,
let our factories go abroad,
let our jobs go abroad,
ruining the blue collar class,
so the future was hi-tech jobs
only suitable for some,
service jobs for all,
permitted a bleak existence.
And the owners of America
bought the lawmakers
who supported their gluttony,
amassing billions and billions
while most of the people
struggled to make ends meet.
Like their role models,
the 18th century aristos,
they will feast
until the nation collapses.