The winner

The Winner

I want to win this wretched game
I want the money and the fame
I want to hear the music play
To hear it drown the screams away
Screams of people crying in pain
For loss of things that I have gained

I want to dine in the grandest style
To satisfy myself on caviar and wine
No scraps or morsels will remain
To fill the starving children’s hollow frame

I want to wear designer names
The styles and colours, the latest craze
Forget the beggar at the gate
To scour the streets that is his fate

I want to stand up smart and tall
As I burst the bank at every mall
With bags of things I’ll never need
I’ll flurry past the man with no feet

I’ll bling my way cross the street
And simply smile at the woman who did not eat

I want to hear them say my name
As they speak of my wealth and fame
I’ll pretend that I have no shame
I’ll pretend that I am perfectly sane
Not selfish, arrogant, proud or vain
I’ll hide it all behind my name

I want to take it all with me
or stay and spend it lavishly
The wealth, the fame,
the place in high society
I want it all my way, you see

And when I win this wretched game
There’ll be no one else to blame
For all my splendid wealth and fame
Is not enough to heal my deep and lonely pain

For all my greed and selfish ways
I win the prize of emptiness

And so he thought he won this game
How sad he’d feel if he could hear
That all they do is laugh and sneer

For in the end it was not gain
All he had was wealth and shame.