$$$

 

   Dollar, Dollar, Dollar,
   you are our only god.
   No matter our protest,
   you drive our every thought.

   We drag you deep and deeper
   into a very private pod,
   creating our own selves
   as what everyone else ought.

  Imagining worlds of dearth
  where enough doesn’t live,
  we scapegoat other folks
  and count them as inferior.

  You mesmerizingly teach us
  it’s better to receive than give.
  We fall for it day after day,
  constructing ourselves as superior.

 Thought and taught for generations,
 now disdain is proclaimed aloud,
 withering the world with bucketfuls
 of icy hate and caustic vanity.

 Before it’s too late, teach us, Lord,
 none can put pockets in our shroud.
 Give us abiding fire in our souls
 to live and breathe respect, dignity, community.

© 2019 Todd Jenkins