The Consumer’s Lament
I breath,
I suck the life from the atmosphere,
and eat both plant and animal,
life devoured by life,
to maintain this body, this vessel,
in sentient awareness,
choices I make, circumstances
the burden of my mistakes,
in this state of consumption we call living.
We consume food, resources,
and anything that will make our being
better, more comfortable, more aesthetic,
or easier than it was,
forging ahead with technologies,
that reduce our workload,
create more leisure than work,
so we can languish in thoughtless pleasures,
forget what is important.
I breath,
I depend on life to suckle my needs,
to afford my whims
in this, my sentient experiment of expectation,
my needs provided, my wants made possible,
by being a devout consumer,
lost in the construct of societal economics,
where few become rich and rule,
while the others bear the brunt
of consumerism’s hollow reward.
So who can break free from the system,
and breath freedom,
unencumbered by the wrath of greed and narcissism,
to find solace in life’s journey
of pain and oppression,
within the afferent lives of base humanity,
driven to crime and worse,
just to uphold the false ideal of ownership,
when truth and value in life resides elsewhere.
Tony DeLorger © 2016
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Great piece, Tony. I sometimes think I am living in the wrong era. Many dreams of past lives tell me the simple times were good – when we lived off the land and on our own terms. Where is all this technology taking us and will we always have some time for solitude? Will truth and value become things of the past? I guess to live in the moment and not wonder or ask such questions is best for me.
BTW we have a new member, Shalini, who said she wanted to join just to read your fabulous poetry. 🙂
Yes saw that conversation, that’s gratifying. Thank Phyllis. I often wish we lived in simpler times, yet there has always been the same antagonists in the world, and we need to find our solitude and give ourselves time to recover from all the harsh realities of today living. Living in the now and taking time outs is necessary, I believe, for some modicum of sanity. Take care.