Too Late the Truth

who quieted the fourth estate,
took words, images, and liberating ideas
from the recently comatosed and stole the nation?

why was there not a storm among us
confronting the wealth of ignorance?
what is the price of deceptive and enriched silence?

who compromised the music of truth,
the poetry of deep thought?
what of the carpentry of inner peace and community?

the people are not derivatives,
know little of hedge funds, credit default swaps,
or greed passing as compassionate investing.

it is the cowards of all professions
who sell their children’s and elders’ futures
for the fairy tale of quick unearned money and power.

we have witnessed superior failure,
eight decades of the lowest mediocre denominator
passing as expertise, proving again

it’s much easier to believe than think.

Source: Poetry (April 2023)