a short abdication from roles

beauty is for sale.
passion is out.
shopping is in.

we are for sale.
friends, patients, doctors
turn into monsters
following greed,
greed politely overseen,
and it turns all green
into sour soup, grey and foul.

courage is out
because we will die anyway,
poor powerless egos
insulted by death and slavery.
My deepest condolences,
you are already dead.

hope is out.
occupation is in.
news make no sense.

souls are stuck to
living room walls.
love is a four letter word
hidden under a mattress,
taken out for pornographic
sessions on Valentine's
or Xmas.

and you clap so stupidly
when somebody sings,
sings from deepest heart:
freedom is nothing left to lose.
are you free?
am i?

i am old.
i didn't expect gratefulness.
but i didn't expect hate.
my impudence to work
less, to slowly leave work,
my function, my role.
how can i dare?
but i do.
i always did as i saw right.
and will.

art has done tricks
so all can be called art
when it sells well
or because of when it doesn't.
art looks like a severe handicap.
humility is weakness.

yes. somehow, somehow
we all turn into ghosts.
i won't let this happen
inside. what others do
with me i do not care,
this is outside.
we turn into ghosts
sold and bought and eaten
by ghosts. greedy ghosts.

greed is so so old, so very
old, and our world hides
it in adverts, on screen, online,
using greed the managers who
manage all bring ugliness
and holes we didn't know before.
desire corrupted into the need
to fill these holes, to buy, to
travel to places where we never
knew we wanted to go.

desire is not bad,
without it we are numb,
we have no wings.
but when desire is on the
market to be replaced:
where is a meaning, a sense?

so, when we think, what do we do?
when we speak and know this
down to the roots,
what can words do
when we do not 'do'?

after all, i am,
now, later i will
not be here to tell.
all this around is a war,
and it has always been there.
we fight when we need to
and we find strength only inside,
find it in love and with friends.

stay calm, we cannot kill the bad.
they are too many.
and stupidity will win,
may destroy all.
maybe.
maybe we can just trick idiots
into being wise.