3.8 Who Gets? Who Pays?

WHO GETS? WHO PAYS?
by Eric Chaet

Who gets? who pays?
Who swaggers to the graveyard?
Who struggles for clarity thru a haze?
Who’s full of confidence? Who’s full of doubt?
Who smiles from the platform,
chuckles, shows a noble profile, defiantly shouts?

Who, shaken, walks away, from among the cheering crowd?

It’s easy to add to the confusion & illusion,
to take the part of an actor who dies,
easy to be cynical & proudly analyze.

It’s hard to change the script & outcome:
there’s a well-established sub-plot
about the martyr who tries.

More & more people are heading for the exit,
even tho the action on stage goes on, intense.

Among ropes, pulleys, & handles,
backstage, a skeleton crew tries
(like those who now emerge outside the theater)
to decide, themselves—what to do.