Soma and the Unknowing Slave
I grew up with Huxley tucked in my heart
His brave new world was orderly
Next to degrading urban decay.
I craved his seductive soma
I wanted to explore the outer reaches
I created a possible path way forward
I grew with Huxley eyeless in north jersey
Forming facts faster than light beams
Finding friendship fleeting and feckless
But a library is a home when homes are lost
And a library is a church where angels are afraid
And a library is a clinic to close old wounds
Huxley, a nearly blind man, opened my eyes
To the seduction of freedom void of ethics
And what of rights without responsibility
This is the slave ignorant to his slavery.
Yes be free but be smart
For a free society depends on more
Than bravery.
To Be a Roman
The pasta
And the pizza
Get tiring
But not as much
As my whole culture
Boiled down
To a mafia punchline.
Before those morons
Landed at Plymouth
There was
Galileo
Michelangelo
Da Vinci
And hundreds more
Geniuses
Writing, sculpting
And painting history.
We once ruled
The known world
While your ancestors
Were harassing sheep.