The land trembles

The land trembles

The land still trembles

under terrible and insatiable burdens:

desperate urges to acquire and to accumulate

the wealth that we worship

and in which we have placed our trust.

The poor are still bought for a few pieces of silver

and the needy for a pair of sandals.

Today it happens in an overseas factory

or sweatshop for designer jeans or sports shoes;

whilst we anxiously flock to the purveyors

of all things shiny and new, lest we miss out.

Nothing ever changes

as the words of Amos the prophet

are either sanitized or avoided.

For the sake of economic and political expediency

we close our eyes and stop our ears.

We pretend that all is well with God’s world,

as we gather to ourselves

leaders with words that caress and reassure,

declaring that, in his/her benevolence,

God wants for God’s pious and faithful flock

the benefits and security of comfortable wealth,

along with all its trappings.

So it is that we self-righteously demand

cuts to our taxation, limits to our welfare

and strength to our borders;

lest the wretched, the unworthy

and the undeserving should receive anything

to which they are patently not entitled.

© Ken Rookes