I used to try to make a better world
I paid attention to our politics
I dreamt of peace, serenity unfurled,
Equality, despite our lunatics.
I used to go to meetings, speak and write,
Obsessed with sense, with rationality—
Convinced we had the tools to mend, despite
The obscene rants of nationality.
Alas, how wrong could one man be, not see
How hatred—preached in mosques, and synagogues,
In Hindu temples, church—shaped history?
How faith and greed and demagoguery
Combine to overwhelm philosophy—
That love of wisdom doomed to atrophy.
(5/8/14)