the scum who run this world
do it for
biology they inherited
from some strange animal

they breathe a different kind of air
than we do
they suckled at different tits
or grew up casually fat or lean but

they grew up and now we are
stuck with them
or so we like to imagine in fairy tales
myths retired once and now recycled

we are not alone but god we are broke and
we are lonely
we stare out old windows at their new work
at their new planet now they assume

but in ten hundred years or ten thousand
more than likely
what we know of them
and their evil work will drown us if we let it

and what we will tell our kids and their kids about
their simple cruelty
is that there were bad people walking
on this old rock and while they did

we let them walk or even fly through the sky
until one day
we recall how bravely they were vanquished
by heroes in shining armor

that will likely be a lie as they are just venal men
they always were
they will die as we do before them like sheep
poisoned or slaughtered or just of old age

coughing up bile and blood
as they die
losing memory of why it was done
and bleating softly a whine of how they’d earned it

maybe they did earn it while they were here
as they were
industrious and scheming over every last centavo
because we did not see that what we needed to do

was not wait ten hundred years
or ten thousand
we should have hurried up and stepped to them
with swords or guns and brought them down

we should rise up strike them in their palaces
in their beds
in their places of cheap gaudy nature and sneers
we should take them as they bleat for their futures

the scum who run this world
should take heed
of what they are creating from this one
and of the people who simmer below

waiting to seethe up and then live somewhat
happily ever after
looking for magic beans in dead men’s pockets
disillusioned but nonetheless somehow better off

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
onward,
T