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Cause and Effect

Cannon

No single drop of rain

Flooded out the dam,

Nor solitary driver

Created the traffic jam.

No weightless mountain snowflake,

Drifting on the breeze,

Caused the massive avalanche

That buried buildings and trees.

The stinging of a single fire ant

Though painful, heals quite fast,

But if a couple hundred sting you

You’ll likely breathe your last.

So it is in all endeavors

Both extraordinary and mundane

Moderation in our actions

Saves us suffering and pain.

And yet in the world of politics

It seems that time and again

Nations swing from left to right

Because someone has to win.

To capture minds and funding

Politicians talk in extremes,

When an introspective milk-toast moderation

Would be the governance of dreams.

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A Pale Horse

Dystopia

They dance with the idea
it consumes them wholly
wrought from ancient fear
of what they thought was holy

The rich move them like pawns
and laugh at their red deeds
then a fearsome day soon dawns
and their anger makes us bleed

Lies and hunger and a sense
of loss and falling down
the talking heads talk nonsense
about their stolen crown

They follow blindly and with glee
they chant and curse and sing
they smash and kill and plea
for praise from a would-be king

The center holds for one last stand
the guardians beat back the horde
they will return as they had planned
to commit what some abhorred

Some bolder hand will hold their reins
the broken veil falls from our face
the death’s head move for sordid gains
a triumph of a darker grace

So thus our city on a hill
shining for those with lifted eyes
crumbles into rubble still
just a shambles in disguise