Standing

By Cliff Lake

 

Standing

 

From the ivory towers,

The hidden agenda reveals:

It does not include you.

From well-guarded gardens

We hear the murmur of the accountant,

Ensuring the wasting piles of lucre

Grow ever more expansive,

And used ever less graciously.

See how the occupants

Of the glass and steel palace

Strive to impress each other:

Collecting baubles and accoutrement

Too precious for public display,

Unless under heavy guard.

But for all their power and connections,

Still they bend the knee

To an evil that will not be confined.

That they may not give up their thinnest dime,

They have loosed upon us

A grievous wrong and an ego,

That will accept no satisfaction.

They quail before this,

For it claims the power to end them with a word,

And they would hand it such power,

As their greed blinds them

To what humanity they once held,

If ever.

Were they banded,

They could cage the calamity,

But their avarice and desire

Separates each from the other.

From their precipices

They will watch the world shrivel at their feet,

As they grow fat

On sustenance they did not produce,

Yet somehow own just the same.

They see us as vassals,

And if we are to eat,

We find ourselves working to be so.

I do not recall asking for such an existence!

I have no memory of begging subservience!

Yet here we are,

Beholden to the credit system,

Accepting scraps,

Distracted by colorful pageantries,

And forced drama.

Does not this world belong to all?

Why do we not have an equal stake?

How are we more slaves now than a year past?

Will we tolerate this?

Will we continue to receive less,

While working more?

My knees are locked!

My eye is steady,

And I stand.

I stand!

I would have you with me:

Stand!

They do not expect us all to stand.

We are mighty if we but stand.

Stand!

I will stand with you.

 

Cliff Lake 12/16/2024

Copyright © Clifford Lake 2024

Location: Wichita, KS, USA

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