Idiot Circles

We find ourselves lost

In a maze of our own design

The signposts have all burned down

And we fade by the day

When the wind blows,

I shed dried-up morals

Like leaves in autumn

Or dead skin cells,

Desiccated by years of misuse,

And left to fill the guts of mites

And muffle spiders’ footfalls

Oh, that we could forget

And turn our eyes from the floodwaters

But even a liar like me

Knows that we must drown

Show me that the things that you value

Have value since you value them

We can feel meaningful

Because it means we have meaning

Let’s hoard grains of sand

And worship junk data

Let’s build a palace of static

And lose ourselves inside

Let’s march around and around and around again

All the debased logic

The spent, weathered values

And the ashes of intentions

Bear their witness against me

I can hear them every hour

I can hear them every day

Ten billion orphans

Screaming in the abyss