The Rapacious Contagion

Avarice whispers in the alleyways

And stretches its shadows long and thin

Into the heart of urban progress.

Why is the song of more and more

So seductive?

Greedy coins clink in the pockets,

Becoming heavier and heavier

With their increasing weight of want.

Sidewalks of rushing bodies,

Project fire in the eyes of want,

Of that which others hold dear.

Flesh and bone reach out at arrogant dreams,

Hands like grappling hooks cinch up

On other people’s treasures,

Turning them to dust,

Jettisoning their granular souls

Into the parched sand dunes of desire.

Void of dreamt oasis-discovery,

Such finds only mirages of wealth,

Where promises of power and dominance

Slip through fingers like the remnants

Of a falling hourglass.

Such desires leave behind an echoless life,

Where the rapacious contagion rages on.