Our Picture of Happiness

All men were created equal
Endowed by their creator with rights
To seek happiness, be free, and just be, or maybe be all right

At first we forgot about women
Then divided ourselves by colors of skin
And now we’ve decided, that love, too, is a sin

In our picture of happiness
We think we’ve forgotten black and white
For now we’ll focus on excluding those we don’t think right

Being is fairly easy, but nothing in life is free
We’ve gotten rid of “their” creator
Instead opting for “He”

And the poorer, well they’re poorer… And happiness now has a fee!
And wisdom, too, has been improved!
By money, power, and greed

All the while we’ve spent thousands remodeling our kitchens with expanded capacity!
And soon thereafter we mailed our $20
To feed the hungry

Disease we’ve seen spread, and we would’ve done more
But the threat of incoming ballistic missiles
Matters just a tad bit more

But for now, we’ll focus on making war
‘Cause tranquility and peace
Well, they just don’t matter anymore.

I wrote this as an expatriate while I was in Germany. It is one of the few poems that seemed to flow out of me, and very much inspired by Ms. DiFranco. It's quite cynical, probably the most I've written. Some might feel it is unpatriotic, but the sentiment wasn't limited to my own country, only amplified by it.