Imagine You're Crazy  (for John Lennon)

 
                             Hey kids, rock'n'roll
                         —Michael Stipe, R.E.M.

Imagine there is no poetry,
I wonder if you can,
Imagine politicians
Are no longer men,
Imagine Coca-Cola,
Gold chains, Mercedes-Benz,
Imagine robot voters
Are doing what they can
To fight the "goddamn system",
The "system" like a drug,
While someone's pissing, pissing
Their taxes in a jug,
The Economic Growth—
Imagine if you can
Coat hangers for abortions
In a kind and gentle land,
Imagine Elvis shaking,
Imagine Lennon dead,
Imagine I'm crazy—
There isn't much to it,
Imagine billionaires
Are really full of shit,
Imagine all the people
Living life of greed,
Imagine yourself wanting
More than you might need,
Imagine it's a poem,
I wonder if you can,
Imagine no one reads it,
'Cause no one gives a damn,
People say I'm a bastard,
But I'm not the only one,
So I hope you'll join us
And may we all be
One.

                                     October 29, 1992
                                 --Alexander Shaumyan