At the end, what do we all ask for?
What do we desire in the final moments of life?
Why is it that we call out to those whom we love?
Why do we reach out to those who give us warmth?
Is it because we know at the very end,
That nothing else matters,
But love?

There once was a story of a little bird
Who lived in a cage by the window
And everyday, the little bird would look outside
To see the sky sprawled as far as its little eyes could see

The little bird knew not was out in the skies above
But he knew,
And it burned within him
That someday,
Someday, he would make it into the open world

For many years, as it watched
It saw rain, and sunlight
Storms and tranquil nights
Always in love with it
Always yearning for that world

Finally, the day came when the bird made it outside
Finally on the other side of the window
Without bars or cages to stifle his flight
The Bird had the every and all direction
To fly into the endless horizon

But.
The Bird went nowhere
Despite the absence of the cage
Because now that he had his moment
He realized he was far too afraid
To decide for himself his own journey

So he waited
And waited
Until many years later
The Bird decided what he wanted most
But time had left him older and slow

And the Bird never left
Despite the open world around him
Because he feared
That his decisions
Could be wrong.

The longer I live and from atop the privileged pedestal
Life has fortuitously handed me
I realize just how easily it is
To use such exquisite balconies of wealth and opportunity
To rob the ones below you under the guise of necessary evils

Corruption takes the form of whatever benefits the bearer
A slurry of desires and wants, that taste like needs
But only for a bitter taste to be left in the end
An elixir of lies, mixed with truth,
Designed to acquire more, through meticulous maneuvering

All the while, those fed such a potion
Taste the notes they desire, the notes they need
And such fears to lose those tastes
Were calculated to spurn just that,
Fabricated addiction.

Evil no longer wears the face of armies and war
Corruption no longer is a fat man in a small suit
With money bags surrounding his dinner table.
No.
Humanity's greatest enemies no longer openly walk the streets
But rather fester in the privacies our minds

We all have a single moment
In the infinity of time
To let our light shine across the stars

A lifetime is but a moment
Years are to time
As grains of sand are to a desert vast

But in our fleeting seconds of existence
We shine brightly to show the world
Who we are

And yes, of course we are afraid
But we are eager
To frame our seconds, our days, our years

As beautifully as we can.

It takes a lifetime
To build the house you call yourself
Years of toiling through the times
To grow from the roots of an infant seed

And it takes only a second
To throw it away
No matter how long you sat growing it all
It takes only a second
For it all to be taken away

There comes a moment, in ones efforts
To finally accept the reality in which they find themselves
Some run from it
Others ignore it

But all eventually open their eyes
Voluntarily or not
To see the setting in which they reside
Such volume sometimes breaks a person

But do not get caught in the traps of comparison
Jealousy breaks a person's journey
It can destroy your courage and steal your bravery
Deceiving you to believe that your efforts are...small

So now is the time.
The time to shed that brutish nature
Convincing yourself to be a smaller person
Find that voice that talks ill of your efforts
Who belittles your interests and laughs at your work

Call that voice out. Argue with it.
For it is that inner whisper that slowly eats away at you
And leaves an empty husk of what always could have been.
It is time to put that voice in its place.

And to know that you are stronger beyond measure
Stronger than any person even your own mind could conjure.

In our feeble existence as a waning empire
We have achieved more destruction
Than any life or prosperity we have created.

I care not for a nation, who stands for hope
To the suffering masses
When in fact, that very nation is the author of their pain
And a benefactor of their sufferings.

The days of national pride are myth and they always were
For pride in a country founded on the killing of others
Pride in a nation built by nameless souls, shackled into slavery?
Merely bygones of an age where cruelty was commonplace
As we now live a facade of a lie our grandfathers told

And I hear you
Why bite the hand that feeds you?
Why speak at all when you benefit from the very thing you detest?
Alas, here we are.

Two fools who both benefit from the death of others
Squabbling amongst ourselves, when we all have been deceived
Deceived to argue
To disagree

Because what better way to keep the channels running?
What better way to clog your thoughts and turn your heart?
Then to begin the age old battle between "Us v. Them"
But yet, we always fall for the same ploy

I no longer recognize this place anymore
And I feel hopeless to change it.