America's New Clothes
It seems that the comprehensive leveling,
The great equalization, is taking place,
Right before, between, and behind America's eyes,
And once complete, if all goes wrong,
It should leave, in its wake,
Trauma lacerating this nation's collective psyche,
Creating a commonweal of citizens
Showing signs of genuine compassion and charity,
Tiny acts of kindness, in their daily doings,
Something on the societal order and scope
Of Amana, Oneida, New Harmony, Brook Farm,
If not quite as ideologically systematic,
Forming a utopia closer, in concept,
To the democracy originally envisaged by the settlers:
A land where all work for the good of the whole —
Not communism, socialism, kibbutzism, per se,
So much as human beings being human,
One for all, all for one, in their appreciation of each other.
If this sounds naively altruistic, optimistic,
Take it with a grain of sodium, but at your own risk,
Because, mark my words,
When the dust from this financial crisis settles,
Americans are going to be gazing at their neighbors
And seeing naked emperors and empresses,
All in need of being told the sobering truth
That they have to sew their own clothes,
From the only fabrics available: poverty and humility.
10/08/08 - (1)
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