These Changing Times

These Changing Times
If you listen and keep very still, you can feel and hear the times changing. There are more people on the earth than ever before, and more of us are frightened and hungry than at any other time in history. No institution will save us � no church, no leader, no system, no bank or corporation. Many who possess even moderate wealth have gone into hiding. They hide in plain view, shielded by material armor. They do not imagine themselves traveling on foot, or kneeling upon aching knees to remove a jagged stone from their shoe. When they dress themselves and eat, they do not think about those who make their luxury possible � the men, women, and children working in factories and fields around the world for a fraction of a living wage. They believe it is their right to consume, and are angry when anyone or anything interferes with their pleasure. Once they have had their fill, they discard the rest, leaving the world�s poor to fight for the crumbs. The times are changing, but the rich will be the last to know. The billions of us on this earth whose only investment is in our children and daily lives will face increasing tragedy and hardship. We will also experience life as it was meant to be experienced, and as it really is: face to face, in the street, and on the merits of our own talents and abilities. The things that truly sustain us will rise in value: meaningful work, bread, songs, poems. The false, unnecessary things, the gadgets, cosmetics, and cheap forms of entertainment, will gather rust in the marketplace. Those of us who don�t know how, will learn to make music of our own, clothing of our own, food of our own, and conversation of our own. We will remember nature and our true folk spirit. The very wealthy will grow wealthier. They will become grotesque and obscene, even to themselves. Those with shallow financial wells will be made to live as the rest of the world, and quickly learn the value of their righteous, incessant complaints. A penny will be a penny again, a dollar will be a dollar. It will take a broom to sweep the sidewalk and the street. Families will live together. The young will take care of the old, the old will inspire the young, and the weary, sick, and mad will know they are not alone. The times are changing. These things are sure to come. One day soon, the oil will all be gone, and the bloody century our greed for it spawned will assume the status of a ripple in our history. We will learn to walk again. We will learn to run. We will sing a brighter song. *September 2, 2005* Previous Entry Next Entry Return to Songs and Letters About the Author	Also by William Michaelian POETRY Winter Poems ISBN: 978-0-9796599-0-4 52 pages. Paper. �� Another Song I Know ISBN: 978-0-9796599-1-1 80 pages. Paper. �� Cosmopsis Books San Francisco Signed copies available Main Page Author�s Note Background Notebook A Listening Thing Among the Living No Time to Cut My Hair One Hand Clapping Songs and Letters Collected Poems Early Short Stories Armenian Translations Cosmopsis Print Editions Interviews News and Reviews Highly Recommended Let�s Eat Favorite Books & Authors Useless Information Conversation E-mail & Parting Thoughts Flippantly Answered Questions
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