You cling to corruption
and I cannot discern whether
it is because you are still
the confused child whose mother
unknowingly wrapped you
in a silken lie or whether it is because
you yourself in an age long past
were caught up in a web
you thought you wove and thus
were impervious to its sticky places
and predators who would devour 
you whole and replicate your skill
for mesmerizing articulation
that draw the people in
and use it to their own
advantage. 

I do not enjoy seeing you
reduced and religated
to such a fate and 
much less by your
own choosing or
not choosing, 
whichever
the case
may be.