Poem: The curse of money

In the classroom of materialism

Money is everything

Power, wealth and wickedness

Money is the venom inside the vial of life

It’s not unusual for the best students of materialism

To excel in the art of selfishness, corruption and exploitation

It’s common for the teachers of materialism

To occupy the best parts of town

And drive the latest sports cars

It’s unusual for the pot of money to be dished in equal portions

To be consumed by the whole of humanity

The curse of money envelopes the heart of humanity

Now where did we go wrong?

We erected a monument of inequality in the middle of the world

And unleashed a world order that is addicted to money

We praised selfishness and encouraged the excessive accumulation of wealth

We called it capitalism, individualism and competition

We even erected a world economic system

That is driven by supply and desire/demand (selfishness)

The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer

It’s the curse of money

That annihilated the heart of Man (Woman)

Pitting father against son, brother against brother

Mother against daughter and daughter against daughter

We saw the gap between rich and poor grow

As we continued to nourish the belly of inequality

We saw the arm of poverty

Choke our children

We saw the emergence of diseases

In the poorest corners of the world

We saw the hands of evil

Pour the cup of sorrow

Onto our households

We saw death

Inside our own homes

We are lost

Inside the house of humanity

©Kenneth Maswabi