Caricature

You can fool me once

You can fool me once

After that I’ll fool myself

Until I open

Up to the light

And the reality

That you fake it

Trying to make it

But you are only

A Charletan

A Caricature

Of real virtue

And principle

Gathering things

Is what you know and

All you value

Leaving your heart bereft

As you lead the life you foster

And it’s a phony

An empty ballon

Values and principles

Need to be the guiding light

Instead you seek

Status through presumption

And grotesque pleasantries

People listen to you

And think they had a real experience

But it was hollow

Failing to register

On the Heart Meter

With no love, grace or

Compassion

What registered high was

Acquisition of status

And that’s a spiral

To the bottom shelf

Where you don’t need

To reach far

For your worst

The top shelf is where

The light is

And it is as much as we

Can strive for

Within reach

For the unimpaired

For those not consumed by

Ignorance

Laziness

And Arrogance

Turning from victim to perpetrator

You watch to see

That no one catches you

As you slip it into your pocket

Because you believe you deserve it

But you steal from rightness

Self righteousness is not reverence

Judgement is not absolute

You are caught in a loop

Of failing love and rightness

And so you will loot

The rightness of others

And call it equivocation

But no responsibility is taken

The whole thing is a childish reaction

That destroys others

While destroying yourself

© Darek Trowbridge (all rights reserved)