unsouled merchandise
the plastic form, the plastic grin;
the blurbs beneath the bubble wrap
commit a pleonastic sin:
they don’t seduce, but do entrap.
ideas, feelings, memories;
the message in a loved one’s eyes:
you are the one i long to please.
this plastic is a ghoul’s disguise;
its maker knows we love to give
and do not trust a home-grown gift
will pass the is it worthy? sieve,
and ads sow seeds of doubt. short shrift’s
conferred to those who do not spend.
thus money’s love’s analogy,
and thus the moneychangers lend,
and then collect rapaciously.
let’s from this artificial pit
retreat, and up a true path climb;
we’ll learn that ultimately it
means most when we give love plus time.
