He's not one of us.
He's not one of us, they say,
and think they have said something profound,
but all they have revealed is what we have always suspected
but in a benevolent spirit hoped was not the case,
that being rich not only makes it hard
to get through the gates to heaven as scripture declares
but make it hard to share the world with others.
He's not one of us, they say,
blind to the reality that what they say about him
is what they say to all those who lack the blood
of America's economic aristocracy.
How dare he sleep between white sheets in the President's house,
does he not know his place?
He's not one of us, they say,
but are thinking of all those who daily toil
for the bread on their table
to the millions upon millions who
have to show up every day, if they hope to eat or sleep
anywhere but under a bridge or in a homeless shelter.
He's not one of us, they say,
but are thinking of members of unions
whose only crime is that they ask respect for the gift of their labor,
and humankind's most precious and limited possession: time.
He's not one of us, they say,
and lump teachers, policemen, our military, politicians and firemen
into the same “loser” category they have for all those
who are foolish enough to work in the public sector for the common good.
He's not one of us, they say,
as they bristle at the thought that a workman in oil-stained clothes,
maid in starched hotel uniform or pilot in mock-military dress
is “essential” to the capitalistic enterprise they think so holy
and so all of their own...very own!
He's not one of us, they say,
as they think it their divine right to be first in line
and last to pick up the tab for their ride on Planet Earth
as though all of history and the future is focused on their solitary life
to assure that they will never miss out on even the grandest of indulgences.
He's not one of us, they say,
not knowing that as an individual and as a class
they are writing what must be
and forever shall be
their epitaph.
Stephen L. Love
© Dallas, Texas 5-2-2014