A Capitalist, a Socialist and a Poet

Capitalist: What profit’s there to be made?
Socialist: And how the workers will get paid?
Poet: Forget potatoes and your stocks,
The beauty’s in the shining locks
Of my sweet darling—there she is—
An angel gliding through the breeze.
Capitalist: That’s fine and dandy. What’s the price
Of that sweet bosom and those eyes?
What is the bottom line, my friend?
Socialist: This dreamy nonsense has to end—
With millions walking unemployed,
What beauty’s there to enjoy?
Poet: And in the starlight late at night
I see my lady burning bright,
And that is all I really need—
No public good or private greed—
I want my freedom just to be
Away from life’s banality.
Capitalist: Good luck, my friend, but then again
You could’ve been a richer man.
Socialist: And while your comrades starve and hurt,
All you can think of is some flirt,
Who steals men’s wallets and their hearts,
While you pursue your foolish art.
Poet: Foolish or not, and who decides
What to extol or to deride,
What we imagine, what we seem,
What we aspire to and dream?
And do we know who we are
Beyond some house or a car,
Beyond our jobs, beyond this life
That starts at nine and ends at five?
Capitalist: You could, my friend, be self-employed.
Socialist: Or one of many unemployed.
Poet: I find my meaning in my art,
While beauty lies within the heart
And shared equally with all,
Igniting passion in the soul,
Beyond appearances and lies,
Beyond demand, beyond supply,
Beyond your wealth or state control—
Mine is the freedom of the soul
To love and dream and to behold
The beauty of the natural world.
Not to despise, and not to claim
To have some answers to your game
Of rich and poor — it’s all the same —
I want to live before I die
My life — not someone else’s lies.


October 2, 2009

--Alexander Shaumyan