Sunset aligns itself with suspense.
Marble columns guard the duality
of black tie and tails. One man talks
business, the other listens
as his eyes scan...

The eighteenth amendment.

Fearing the folly in
Playing devil's own advocate,
His mind debates the issue at hand.
He has a choice to make,
Though it would seem to most
Such choice has been made
On behalf of the laity.

He speaks but less than 'easy' now...

"How could such a proscription
Of all that made each day
Worth the living
Be considered a step
Towards felicity
For any breathing, thinking,
Rational creature?"

He leans into the lengthening shadows...

"And what of the hope of us?
Where will it lead?
Were will it end?

Aren't we just as the dogs;
Dripping our needs,
Whimpering with desire,
When our own Pavlovian Government's
Decree for temperance
Rings the bell that heralds in
The cessation of all
That makes, or made us...free?"

Foreshadowing the future, his words
Linger uneasily; smacking at the ears
Of ignorance and indecision...

"It is as if those in the suits,
The ties, that bind us all
To the deception of their ways
Truly believe themselves the creators,
Believe themselves divine;
Ordained to administer
Their own prescription
For what ails the human psyche."

A spartan's smile bends his lips,
As he draws down upon a half-spent cigarette...

"As for me, I shall keep my own peace;
My own piece of mind.
For those who wish to see the truth
Must ask for it before
Donning the obscurant blinders
That come with accepting all this
'Ignorance is Bliss' locution.

I shall stand my ground,
Though it be under-ground, in fact
Or fiction; depending upon whom you ask."

Reaching to touch a mutual interest he adds...

"Better yet, don't ask at all.
For I do not yet know
Upon which side you stand,
Nor upon which shore you relish
The licking of temptation's surf
To your own barren feet."

His head turns, to take in
The setting of the day's notions,
Into a stone, that corners him, and considers
His own indiscretions a moment...

"Or have you made the journey
To the lands; the home
Of the free and the brave?"

With a somewhat vacillant empathy
Towards his fellow man,
He offers an expensive smile...

"It is all right by me,
If you have not.
We all get thirsty
For the truth, and liberties
Bestowed upon all human kind.

Or is that even so?"

A deep laugh escapes his mind's secrets...

"Ah, dear original sin, our species!
What more should we want
But to know that knowlege and free will
Shall forever remain out of our own
Stunted 'Scopes,' eh?"

He laughs again, to feign indifference,
Slapping hard the stoic back of despotism...

"No matter just now.
Libations have arrived.
'Time we head inside
To partake of this wonderful
Communion..."

©2005 SPDworks