Fate treats bright folk with harsh disdain,\u00a0\u00a0
Life kicks them hard, dispensing pain;
Yet thinking folks must still obey\u00a0\u00a0
The rules fools write for every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are the laws, which we instate,\u00a0\u00a0
To keep the order in the state;\u00a0
Then fools get in and change the laws,\u00a0\u00a0
For their sake and profit’s growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And are these fools, or are they crooks?\u00a0\u00a0
With masks of fools, to hide true looks,\u00a0\u00a0
To hook you in with tricks and lies,\u00a0\u00a0
To trip you into fateful ties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh, simple fools they are just not,\u00a0\u00a0
For where they stand, be they can not:\u00a0\u00a0
They’re wicked tricksters; kind, they’re not;\u00a0\u00a0
They shatter lives without a thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, pay attention when they decry,\u00a0\u00a0
Or promise riches high as sky,\u00a0\u00a0
An easy life, with mounds of gold,\u00a0\u00a0
And of nirvana they foretold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Peek under veil of their deceit,\u00a0\u00a0
And you will see their bare feet,\u00a0\u00a0
And you will see just how they stand,\u00a0\u00a0
And you will know how to defend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paul Pinkhasik, July 22, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n
illustration by DALL-E<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fate treats bright folk with harsh disdain,\u00a0\u00a0Life kicks them hard, dispensing pain;Yet thinking folks must still obey\u00a0\u00a0The rules fools write for every day. There are the laws, which we instate,\u00a0\u00a0To keep the order in the state;\u00a0Then fools get in and change the laws,\u00a0\u00a0For their sake and profit’s growth. And are these fools, or are they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"saved_in_kubio":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,652],"tags":[280,320,317,322,325,323,324,171,321],"class_list":["post-1663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-poetry","category-social","tag-corruption","tag-deceit","tag-fate","tag-fools-and-crooks","tag-injustice","tag-manipulation","tag-power","tag-societal-critique","tag-trickery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourpoems.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourpoems.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourpoems.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourpoems.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourpoems.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1663"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ourpoems.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2096,"href":"https:\/\/ourpoems.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1663\/revisions\/2096"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourpoems.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourpoems.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourpoems.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourpoems.org\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}