Dying System

People struggling to survive
on the fringes of a cold, dying system;
hiding from the tycoons
and their henchmen called “governments” –
trying desperately to find a place
in the global slave market
(euphemistically called “employment”)
where the chain is not too heavy
and the price less than the wage
with something left over
to feed the children in the cold.

The planet’s life-giving mantle
cracks, dries, freezes
and oozes of poisonous fumes.
The system has run its course
but who is aware of this fact?
Not those who still chase the elusive dollar,
– the rich buying a corporation –
– the poor, a lottery ticket –
nor those who strive to keep
the best place at the trough.

And as the trough gets deeper
it also gets shorter and fewer snouts can fit into it.
Desperate government lackeys,
armed with indecent laws and justice-denying taxes
take the fat of whatever crop remains
after the CEO’s have milked the cream:

The miserable rich rail against the poor
and the poor are finally left with only one choice:
to die in the name of “free enterprise”.

Will it all end?
The academic question is already answered:
Not “if” but “when”.

Sharran WindWalker

Archived 02/04/2010