Ethics, whipped into children by the wise
(Who, early on, decried the golden calf,
Then invented Hell, to incentivise
A brisk and stern recoil from moral gaffes),
Is trivialized by profit and loss!
Dance around an icon? Then you must die,
Murdered by Moses, put to holy sword—
Jericho’s babes (and goats) never learn why
They must be killed because they’re Canaanites.
And all the while the wise priests show the way—
“Do as we say, shun Hell, earn Heaven’s heights”
(As if virtue were mere investment play!).
Morals nourished by pictured gain, not heart?
That’s plain whoring—converts us all to tarts;
Ethics wrung from fear of punishment, hope
Of Heaven? Plain greed—void of moral scope.
Morality that issues from escrow
Is not a gracious gift—just quid pro quo.
(4/27/08)