Cars and Cannons-Mars and Mammon

 
Cars and Cannons / Mars and Mammon
 
Tweedledum and Tweedledee 
Are running neck to neck.
And Tweedledum says Tweedledee
Is out to ruin and wreck
The nation. Tweedledee, in turn,
Repeats the selfsame charge,
Saying, “Everything will burn
With Tweedledum in charge.”
 
We’re forced to choose between the two
Or find a better third,
Or simply sit and sadly rue
The spectacle absurd—
As Mammon sits on high and laughs,
And Mars conducts his wars,
And Venus smiles beguilingly
To sell us those—and cars.

******
 
The lies go uncontested by;
It’s all about the show.
The Tweedledums, the Tweedledees—
They come, they strut, they go.
We're so distracted by the games,
As Mars and Mammon thrive,
That those surviving what these do

Are sorry they’re alive—

For no one cares, as weapons flow,

Like water does, to wars,

And profits flow, in torrents too,

As Mammon rides on Mars.

So children, women, scream and die

Or silently depart—

As some are buried, some are burned

And others blown apart.

******

 
So those, who’re better off, advise,
“Go pour yourself a drink!
Or go and buy an SUV.
It’s time you paused to think:
The indices will rise and fall,
And millions more will die,
As those who seek and tell the truth
Are humbled by the lie.”
 
The gods of War and Commerce rule
As all of us bow down,
And she who stands is thought a fool
And run right out of town
Or suffers fates much worse than that
As the kings of new do battle,
While bowing still to the ruling gods
And herding us like cattle.

******
 
So cars and cannons still are sold
And we can hear them roaring.
The prices of their shares and stocks
Will yet again be soaring
As Tweedledees and Tweedledums
Distract, yet more, the masses,
And all of us remain as sheep
Or bray with pride like asses.
 
And some are worse, some better, yes.
We choose the lesser evil,
While plants can only yield to both
The locust and the weevil.
One eats the whole; the others snacks
On sap and seeds and leaves.
We humans? One, who reasons, smacks
His head, as one believes. 
 
2024 July 5th, Fri.
Berkeley, California