September 16th, 2022

Today was not a good day for me (still at work also). Fortunately for me, the worst days often inspire my best poems. I hope you will enjoy this dark poem.


Life, Money, Death
By Jeremy Gernhaelder


First comes Life,
So full of promise; so full of wonder,
Free from the limitations that come later,
We encourage our children to explore,
To find themselves; be themselves,
To figure out how they wish to spend this Life,
And how to become valued members of our society.


Innocent Life knows nothing of Money,
They have simple desires,
They seek to have these desires fulfilled,
And dutiful and loving adults oblige.
They know not of restrictions and pain,
For the adults long to shelter them from this,
Until their time comes.


Then comes Money,
Money is cruel; Money is heartless,
It cares not for circumstance or difference,
It seeks only to establish its reign,
To take away Life's wonder and promise,
And bind it in chains,
Serving its true master.


Money dictates how Life is lived,
It tells us when to rise; when to eat,
Sets out the limitations of what we are capable of achieving,
It tells us where to go; who to be seen with,
An ever steady presence,
Money watches over Life's every move,
Certain to punish should it stray from its master's will.


Money is more cruel than any Life could be,
It divides us; pits us against one another,
It chooses some of us to give the gift of comfort,
Knowing we won't complain for the sake of the others,
Too afraid to lose what we have
Too afraid of what happens when there is no Money,
And Death comes for us.


Crueler still, Money chooses a select few,
To give the gift of the Life we were promised as children,
Free from worry; free from the fear of loss,
Setting them upon golden pedestal,
And encouraging us to worship them
While it starves the rest of us to pay the cost,
And leaves Death to settle the accounts owing.


Then comes Death,
Caring not for Life or the false god, Money,
It is the great equalizer,
Those who have, fear it,
Clinging desperately to their Money as it pulls them under.
Those who have not, embrace it,
For Death is a friend who has at last come to relieve them from the pain of Life.