Last Respects

Into this world we come like baby angels hearts
full of love to be taken advantage by those
who have forgotten how; never learning
from mistakes is pathology, again
and again and again getting
it wrong no matter how
many times we come
back to watch our
lofty ideals get
smashed
and to
lead
wretched
little lives
of envy and
perfidy and denile
of which there is never
short supply as we greedily
help ourselves to other people’s
resources and feelings and beliefs
last year it was buddhism and yoga
this year we’ll try Islam, no culture have
we and value nothing that cannot be bought
and sold because that is our only legacy in this
land where a man’s worth is determined by their
bank account and littlle else; certainly not whether
their funeral could fill a room or produce a three day
stream of friends parading by to pay their last respects