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Craig Rozniecki
A single-file line is formed,
Before marching in unison,
With matching suits and ties,
All following our leaders,
With hair slicked back similarly,
Our scents reminiscent of one another’s,
All eyes looking straight ahead,
No hesitation is shown,
Trained for the same mission,
Trained for the same goal,
Brainwashed into submission,
Containing no thoughts of our own,
Taught that it was moral,
Taught that it was just,
That it would be best for our families,
That it would be best for ourselves,
once
it did not take blandness
to provoke action
once joy was sufficient
once
the smile of a passing stranger
was reward enough
at one time
you would even laugh
without apparent reason
all that is gone
the costume must be chosen with care
the makeup must be correct for the role
once you tried freedom
no longer
for you
Reluctantly I joined
the school systems, the
workforce, the more
or less normally regulated
life. Some discomfort
and no enthusiasm were
involved. I saw what was
expected and operated
along those lines. These
are not systems I invented,
nor have I the power
to invent others. One joins.
That’s all. Society is strange.
It is not something I
take to easily. Reluctance
has made me wary but steady.
The sheep beat a track over the mountain,
And men, sheep-like, follow them.
Who is there with heart enough
To beat a track for himself?
Not the strongest.
Not the wisest.
Not the most proud.
With wine or with faith, with love or with song,
Let me be drunken all my life long.
On hills of ecstasy, in troughs of pain,
Never more sober, never more sane.
For I lived too long in a den
Of sane and solemn men.
Each merciless as a beast.
And my spirit was their feast.
They sucked my soul from me
All for the sake of holy Uniformity.