Who decides which side of the divide we reside in?

Were the lines drawn on primordial earth

or is this the unfolding of the lottery of birth.

Collapsed upon a chair, gripped by fever

The scales of justice weigh down against her.

A statistic in a maligned welfare trend.

Name tarnished, fate condemned

Single mother of two on minimum wage,

Piecing together a dream in a sweltering cage.

For young that can rise & be proud to stand

Above the cost of birth with a poor hand.

Outside malls, crowds line up for iphones and ipads,

Willing hostages, to marketing and expensive fads,

A generation raised by TV on ritalin and fast food,

Proud children of Gekko because "greed is good"

Self worth outsourced , income outspent

No time for introspection , to examine discontent.

Some claw up the rungs , no values to represent.

Inherit the keys to palaces, pull the strings above the scene,

Ancient story on repeat, power a drug through poverty obscene.

On the corner across a street

Where they say the" vagrants" meet,

With hands stretched out towards a fire,

A community in these times deemed dire.

A brother questions the point of it all,

This business of robbing Peter to pay Paul,

Through jobs with no meaning

for debt with no ceiling.

I killed in Afghanistan for peace at home

Now I'm forgotten , my welcome worn,

Tell me it's true, this spin about a meritocracy,

Show me a place where sweat and blood is currency.

Oh who decides which side

of the divide we reside in?

Were the lines drawn on primordial earth,

or is this the unfolding of the lottery of birth.