Uneven World

Uneven World

We live in an uneven world
Where the balance between us
Gets tipped in favor of the wealthy
We ignore the ones in need
And insulate the people
Who have too much
Disregarding our own disgust
We let them off the hook
While they shrink their taxes
Towards zero accountability.

The common good goes on
Struggling against the surge
The ignorant are spoon fed
Unspeakable lies
Keeping them in fear of progress
Preventing the provision
For the general welfare
The rich man laughs
On the way to the bank
While the homeless are left alone.

We are the only mammals
Who reject to equilibrium
Nature abhors unsteadiness
But man promotes
Profit over sharing
Calls it civilization
And reveals selfishness
As a perverted virtue
Wealth becomes wishful thinking
While the poor go without.

Who are we to approve
This vicious vanity to go on?
The right to live becomes
Swept aside by apathy
Indifference to basic needs
Becomes fashionable insanity
The carrot of cruelty
Dangles before the needy
Humanity is an orphan
Beaten up by the greedy.

Night comes quick and cold
While I huddle by myself
Worries flood my thoughts
Wondering how to find
A job, food, medicine
A home of my own
Poverty makes poetry
Spoken into silence
Love has forgotten me
For someone rich and shiny.

Copyright © 2023 Charles Edward York
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