Poetry

Reuters photo

By

I.B. Rad

A Taxing Question for Our Legislators

Once your constituents

are beyond their late 40s

or certainly their higher 50s,

it’s primarily downhill

for while frequenting

increasingly restricted paths

they’re beset by impairments

such as accrued wear and tear,

sluggish immune systems, “senior moments,”

rheumatism, tremors, dementia, arthritis…,

as well as deepening financial vulnerability

due to bodily deterioration and obsolescence.

Consequently, after reaching adulthood,

a voter’s useful life

is typically just 50 – 60 years

after which nursing home costs

can divest them of any residual value.

So taking into account

their miniscule valuation,

and in light of aging’s liabilities,

why not legislate every citizen

has an individual depreciation

much like plants, property, and equipment

of our nation’s businesses

and especially of your favored constituents,

billionaires and corporations.

Departure

The choosing had almost ended

with the “wise ones” electing to send

programmers, agronomists, soldiers, entrepreneurs,…

to spearhead humanity’s desperate quest.

Of what use, the many demanded,

could those ineffectual dreamers,

the artists, possibly be?

But then a minority persuasively noted

it was “practical” people, “the doers,”

who occasioned the impending catastrophe

and that, together with principled scientists,

the “impractical” dreamers

had warned us of our impending doom –

too often at great cost to themselves.

So now, these same artists, “humanity’s canaries,”

would take their newly designated places

aboard the immense craft.

Accordingly, performance artists,

writers, painters, musicians, sculptors,…

along with their more conventional crew mates,

comforted loved ones,

then reluctantly filed onto lifts

that would elevate them to the starship.

And what awaited them?

In spite of all assurances

every crew member knew

their journey was, at best, a gamble.

Yet one thing was undeniable:

  Any chance, however small,

  beats none!

I.B. Rad

I.B. Rad lives in New York city with Mrs Rad and their valued canine companion. He is widely published with much of his work available on the internet. His book, “Dancing at the Abyss,” was recently published by “Scars Publications.”