Thursday, February 9, 2012

Addendum

The rich are here to teach us that crime pays,
that shame is what keeps common folk tied down,
to have a conscience clean when you are lying
and they know it, that is how you earn your keep
and win the hearts of men.
These stories of equality, the rule of law and honor
are for the children to believe, and adults to sell
with all the passion and conviction they can muster,
for what else keeps us useful than the sense of ordained order?
What good is any virtue, if it conflicts with the actual?
Lies are more harmonious, because sweeter,
they make the limits that we crave
seem not even of our own making
but the consequence of freedom
on man too flawed to earn it.