Loose Cannons

by Antone P. Braga

A contorted society has difficulty swallowing facts
It hurts the gullet so accustomed to processed fodder
But, swallow it must for sustenance
As the thought police run rampant in full societal regalia

As big business takes its best shot
At buying the sell
As advertising paints
A pretty picture of hell

As soaps teach how to behave
Interact and love
As each generation stands
On shoulders high above

As news and entertainment
Become one and the same
As the masses follow the
Religion of the game

As big politicians in big government
Hide tangled strings
As euphemistic double-speak confounds
Controls and misleads

It gives new meaning to substance abuse
The art of the day
Dig deep, speak free, uphold
Shock and dismay

Institutions are but the idea of the one who started
The power acquired is equal to
The power imparted

When the voice of a prophet out of the deeps of antiquity merely echoes to him a sentiment of his infancy, a prayer of his youth, he then pierces to the truth through all the confusion of tradition and the caricature of institutions.

--RALPH WALDO EMERSON