Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site sjuvax.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!sjuvax!6912ar04 From: 6912ar04@sjuvax.UUCP (rowley) Newsgroups: net.poems Subject: Social Commentary Message-ID: <738@sjuvax.UUCP> Date: Mon, 17-Dec-84 11:10:23 EST Article-I.D.: sjuvax.738 Posted: Mon Dec 17 11:10:23 1984 Date-Received: Wed, 19-Dec-84 00:22:10 EST Reply-To: 6912ar04@sjuvax.UUCP (rowley) Organization: St. Josephs University, Phila. PA. Lines: 57 () Social commentary (slings and arrows as opposed to rocks and garbage) An age of overt hypocrisy We are perfectly willing to sacrifice salvation for the sake of security Immolation on the altar of the American Way Mutilation The chopping off of parts to prove that we are whole We are the new rats of Hamelin led into the abyss by songs of promise piped by false prophets We sit holloweyed before flickering facsimiles of once-lofty aspirations We are voyeurs all able to peer within forbidden temples to watch outlawed acts Vicarious pleasures gone respectable piped into every house and hovel accompanied by televangelists preaching the gospel of conformity There may be safety in numbers, but there is no security in conformity... A mad headlong dash to keep up with the millions of Joneses in the rat race known as American Society Pressure beautifies carbon but deforms humanity There is no crime in seeking perfection and grace in their various forms, but at what cost and by what methods? Age premature coupled with the age taboo forms the most vicious of cycles; old trying to be young striving to be old... We are seeking that which has already passed us by,that we avoided in its passage,and which taunts us now in the discontent of our respective winters... (c) 1984 Anthony J. Rowley Comments,critiques,criticisms,pats-on-the-back,etc. both welcome and appreciated