Andrew D. Anderson » Poetry

tossing, turning; in my head
pleasant visions quickly fled

tattered dreams began to creep
i could scarcely think of sleep

i looked about and was not alone
everywhere lie a restless drone

pain escaped in troubled breathes
dismantled wills must acquiesce

told to work and to procreate
distempered men we incarcerate

fear subversion, but not of self
distraction successful, ideal of wealth

failure impossible, self medication
easier to swallow the external delegation

lie still and they will lie too
it’s what society requires all do

eyes closed for restless slumber
just until they call my number

the darkest night enshrouded
I could faintly hear her cry
the rain above me sounded
as if the tin wished her to die

the rain fell down my face too
and I sniffled with the wind
what else could a child do
all around me malice grinned

a flash of lightning struck the ground
the newly-splintered tree despaired
meanwhile, his fists barely made a sound
but screams and thunder left me scared

I shivered, wept, and gasped for air
covered my ears in vain and hummed
this was the world – cruel, unfair
in which night by night I numbed

the wallpaper-like skin
apparently glued to his bones
tore around the lips
as he rasped about whatever

I sat with my ear plugs
shouting just loud enough
to drown out the fellows
rants about whatever

I could hardly stand to
watch him sit there
like a useless broken
furnishing by the fire

I rarely looked up
doubting he cared anyway
lost in my own thoughts
actively ignoring the fool

because some of my blood
ran through his veins
he was useless nevertheless
hardly worth talking about

like a swarm of noise, a mouth, it moves
on a biped frame, in polished shoes .

across space and time, it spews these sounds
in tuxedos suits or in silken gowns .

it bares its teeth and squaks quite loudly
flaunting ties and bows pretty proudly .

the noise, the sounds, the squaks the same
taught to speak, and no refrain .

most mouths move and spew that way
few do manage a thing to say .

boisterous mouths, the incessant babels,
alternatively, perhaps, society just unravels .

I was young, still naive
wanting badly to believe

that all one saw could be obtained
that life was living unconstrained

how I ran past youth, swift and sure
convinced, completely, the world was pure

upon arrival it became quite clear
this world was theirs and I was here

not for my own desires to pursue
just a worker to support the few

the few that owned all I might want
and I’d work fiendishly or be forgot

so I did, I laboured, a jaded slave
their walls to build, roads to pave

whatever made, I could not pretend
belonged to me, I was not an end

a system with no king for a coup
only politicians that corruption renew

they preached me free markets, not men
made idleness and free thought a sin

god on their side, then science too
where I found hope, they would construe

only reminders of work to be done
sold me their lies, one by one

in frustration I bred my own replacement
stupid, hoping they’d get better placement

so I gave away my life; now feeble and old
can barely subsist on the money they stole

how long should we live in quiet protest
in a system that lets only dead men rest