Gilt Guilt

Gilt Guilt

While inextricably intertwined in hedonistic rituals
Performed in eight hour shifts or more
And while their offspring bounce back into the background
Into the street corners wearing on their backs the dull of the night
And the chill of the city’s polluted air
And listening to sadistic songs that hung in the stale air-
That reeks of competition and cigarettes
And impurities from exhaust pipes
As the drive to wealth becomes a bloodbath
Bearing diseases of the 21st century

I chuckle at this satire:
The stiff wallets driving by
Embedded in their hatred for those stiff bodies
Spread across the cold concrete pavement
While ignoring the cries that came from those same street corners.

I send my condolences to those who will wake up to today, tomorrow.
Working hard to gild the living
While today still walk eyes clouded
As their children’s faces are gilded only by the city’s street lights
While their gilt-like gimcrack souls
Lack the true sense of guilt

Mordecai Mthiyane