Be thankful
When gaining debts
As the trauma
Of making profit
Deceives
Our best intentions
While fueling
What hunger grows,

Since animals
Bury their bones

And chew
Such excess morsels

With arrogance
Harbored by triumph
Through victories
Founded in war –

Those feasts
Dependent on sin

Like answers
Lacking all context,

Still forced from God
Whose failure
Was creating man
So lost

Learning circumstance
Manages fate
Even if real passion
Drives us
Towards happiness
Needing approval
Or fears
Acknowledging death.

Yet wealth
Means even less
During days
Turned obligations,

Finding pain
Between each slumber
Until morning
Calls too soon –

Believing work
Is key,

Though effort
Appears more futile

Than throwing cash
At problems
Hard labor
Often provokes.

Real pleasure
Remains unknown
Among bounties
Long years squander,

Chasing agony
Pain misinterprets
For successes
Never enjoyed.

• J. Pigno