The Mask of Agamemnon in the New Fade

it used to be that the mark of ill-breeding
shown worst on the privileged
and yet in the New Fade
the effects are multiplied the more creeping
power is bestowed on the rest of wretched mankind

this is how all are touched by the ability of
everyday tyrants to be unmoved by reason,
a sense of entitlement that sticks in the cog
of civilization, ensnaring all in a vast web
of pettiness and greed

how then to be captains of our own souls,
masters of our own destinies
when it is the business of the average individual
to look after themselves in an active
suppression of others?

it is insidious, the way this mundane evil works,
thrusting the knife of iniquity with a smile
and words of encouragement,
giving lip service to possibility
while trampling the very ground,
stomping out the tentative buds of freedom
even as they've taken centuries to grow

it is a mask we are all forced to endure;
beneath it a tortured grimace might be seen
by anyone bold enough to look