Take a gangster like John Gotti or a gaggle of CEO’s
Some psychopaths wear uniforms, some don’t
One goes skiing, the other goes to jail
Politicians and prosecutors love this game
They’re fond of pounding their fists on high
about what today’s brats ought to be doing
“Don’t get caught with your pants down,”
would be the honest thing to say
from their own patchy experience;
“You could be the next dupe to land
upside down on the evening news”
But they weasel around it, bring up God,
and show the latest Hopes of the Future
how easy it is to lie, cheat and steal
Ignoring them, tattooed youth endlessly
skate on painted boards inside
shopping malls, on city sidewalks,
text, selfie and video their way
through the breezy arches of anarchy
into dystopian ghettos of the 21st Century
Outside their virtual universes the planet
continues its cycle of blossoms, browning leaves,
winter storms and thaws, wobbles oblong on its
predictable orbit with only a few old taxi drivers
to admit outright, “Life goes on without us”