THE FALL

Having investigated the crime scene
very carefully,
I saw a leaf that has fallen
silently
and
slowly
onto the moist ground, the same place
where a bloody glove had once fallen--
the fall has finally arrived,
the fall of our faith in the
"system" that's always
falling
with its grotesque high profile
verbosity
and endless books filled with
empty jargon--
the fall has finally arrived
and all our heroes
and saints have
fallen too
into the dark deep hole
of empty platitudes--
life, liberty and the pursuit
of happiness
like some black oil slick
covering the ocean water
of our high tech chemical
environment--
yes, yes, the lawyers lie
and there are no witnesses,
no witnesses to the truth
that is humanity,
greedy and murderous,
hiding behind
the mask of a winner,
a professional,
a scholar,
a star athlete,
a pillar of the community,
but there's lust in all of us
that goes deeper,
perhaps it stems from some
unhappy childhood--
there was a time
when our pain
came out in a poem,
tragic and personal,
but now there is
no more tragedy,
no communication--
only lies,
and justice is
served with a knife
and barrel of a gun,
an electric chair or
a lethal injection,
tempered only
by the total assets
of the accused.
 

                               March 20, 1995
                            --Alexander Shaumyan