Thursday, January 29, 2026

The Grinding Wheel


​At a time we should be approaching utopia,

We find ourselves sliding into dystopia.

We should be at the pinnacle of society,

Yet, an elite group—not even a majority—

is pulling us down into the mire

where human life is merely a commodity.


​The luxury of the top tier

tramples the rights of the masses.

We exist under the jackboots

of their thug army, the enforcement arm

of ignorance crowned as leadership.


​Falling in line,

or falling under the wheels of the machine,

raising a generation

with no taste of freedom in their memories.

​The children learn the rhythm of the gears,

mistaking the humming for a lullaby.


The machine demands silence,

total and absolute—

purchased by the blood 

of those resisting.

​They never learn the taste of salt,

of tears born of rebellion,

or how quickly favor turns.


​But iron grows brittle

under the cold of its own soul.

​When the gears finally seize,

the only thing left

will be the weight

of the ghosts

we were told to forget.


© Ron Simpson Jr. 


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