Society in Decline

'A Great Society'
Which has neither food
Nor room for its artists,
Whose poets, painters
And musicians
Dwell in the Village,
On the borderline
Of the nether world,
Neither living nor starving,
In a society of externalisms,
Supporting empty-headed
Bureaucrats,
Led by a swarm of legally
Authenticated shysters
Or petty administrators,
Whose gods are ostentation
And crass materialism,
A society which waters down
Its silver and its soul,
Where morality and hope
Rot in shambles,
Where the bitter bread of Welfare
And the circuses of commercialism
Are provided for the multitudes,
While crime stalks the streets,
Such a failing society
Reminds me very much of Rome,
Being swallowed up
By the Dark Ages,
In its final decline...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz