The Jaws of Empathy

The wind sounds like a demon as it howls through the trees.
You and I just love to watch the storm.
Through the rain-spattered window we can see the lightning flash,
from our living room where we stay dry and warm.
But a different demon howls in a storm inside my head.
It won’t let me enjoy the lightning show.
It keeps saying “There are people out there shivering in the dark.
They don’t have a warm place they can go.”

Empathy
tears apart the heart of me.
A part of me wants to be free
from the jaws of empathy.

Those cows and pigs keep marching to the slaughterhouse and then
they come apart and end up on my plate.
Those Mexicans keep picking fruit and vegetables for us.
It must be their fault that I’m gaining weight.
I’m unfulfilled until I eat my fill, and now I’m fat.
My belly aches. It’s bursting at the seams.
But somewhere children’s bellies ache for lack of any food.
I ate their share. Their crying haunts my dreams.

Empathy
eats a hole inside of me.
Still, I don’t really want to flee
from the jaws of empathy.

Your closet’s filled with pretty clothes. You always dress with class.
Your clothing’s made by kids in foreign lands.
No human rights or labor unions ever are allowed
to slow the flow of clothes into your hands.
The sweatshop system keeps it cheap. The government’s in line,
to keep us all supplied with skirts and shirts.
You can snicker at me, and call me a bleeding heart,
but when I think about those kids, it hurts.

Empathy
feels like it’s killing me,
but it beats sociopathy.
I’ll face the jaws of empathy.

Money talks and bullshit walks and things are tough all over.
It’s a jungle out there, so they say.
The booming war economy is fattening the vultures,
and in the palace, golden asses bray.
The party’s in full swing. They’re doing the domination thing.
They dance upon the losers in the dust,
whose sunken eyes and mangled limbs and broken dreams compel me
to sing about their lives. Somebody must.

Empathy
Tears apart the heart of me.
Still, I don’t really want to flee
I’ll face the jaws of empathy.

-- Dixon Wragg