The Human Condition

The educated minds of the middle class

Fight wars that are not necessarily their own.

Outcast, misfit, half-caste

Offspring of expatriates and religious pariahs

Feeling the weight of the world on their shoulders,

They plot and scheme and scream

At the decadence around them,

Dually living in their den of inequity,

Where relationships that are meant to be governed

Equally are defended by men.

And when a woman exercises her "freedom"

The typical male response of jealousy ensues.

A reaction tantamount to hypocrisy

In the couples joint war against their elder generations.

Perpetuation of misogynistic submission,

Concubinage and courtesans.

And the man finds pride not in being a man

But at not being a woman

And the killer discovers he despises

Not those he kills but those who do not

For as sad as it may be

Violence brings change

And change is brief

So when change becomes constant

The past is forgotten or remembered

In a romanticized rendition of the truth

So as the pages turn,

The words still appear fresh.

And shanghai of 1927

Might as well be san francisco of 1999