Principle Value

The market improves on god,
it only needs one hand to give and take away.
The watchmaker's eyes are blind,
the market's hand invisible, but
it's soul is mercenary.
Give us this day our daily switching bonus.
Forgive us our bad credit,
And deliver us from monopoly pricing.
Amex.
Yet it leads us with temptation.
How much time can I save, how much money can I make?
How much can I get for this slice of principle.
And this is how our values die,
jettisoned to save waisted weight.
Sign up, sign in, on the dotted line,
to be tracked, monitored, tagged, eviscerated
and spread on the sheet for bids, any bids.
Last bid, high bid, But It Now, bid away,
Our parents’ values,
once dialectically engendered,
are now so vapidly surrendered.
For a price.
What price fairness at the checkout?
What price welfare at tax-year-end?
What price privacy in the passport line?
But what price charity at death-bed-side?
What price over first date drinks,
in student halls?
in middle age mirrors?
What price in our quietest moments?
We are all and none of us to blame,
for creating a monster too ruthless.
We hoard its ribbons,
and deny its cruel folly.