Paying For Change Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

Down a notch or two,
From a quality of life many knew...
To view today from them slip away.
With belief others keep,
Their best interests kept...
Prioritized.
Mobilized in an undenying effort.
Although criticized,
By those with ears and eyes...
Still miraculously open.

'Lies to tell have been recycled.
Deceived and duped.
To leave us in stupors.'

So crazed and delusional.
We've been taught to perceive,
Those misfits embittered...
By disparities and inequities,
Promised to be fixed.
But those 'nonconformists',
Seem to always warn...
Of coming catastrophies.

'You'll be digging deeper.
Deeper into emptying pockets.
Paying for change.
With hopes it can be borrowed.'

No one listens.
Or pretend they don't comprehend.
As authorities come to silence,
Misfits loudly offending...
A way of life sacrificed,
To a continued rescinding...
Of pretensions indebted,
On unpaid loans and accepted debts.
While claiming to remain,
Loyal and patriotic.