Trade Ins

The sales lot within the eyes

always looks for bargains in the face,

mortgaged hearts prepared to pay

what price is listed in a catalogue

where lives are discounted and replaced

every time a new group

come off the assembly line.

 

You find out when the dreams dissolve

after the grins get worn and engine rattles

there never was any warranty,

no guarantees how long that parts will last

or that when the demand for use

will simply look for something new.

 

So we live with plastic in our bones

instead of unbreakable iron,

know that it will never be

more than a cog meant for a specific need,

then sit back and merely move

as the motion and power required

because no matter how iron our essence

sooner or later a junkyard waits the bones

while what really thrive in the soul

gets a reservation where rust doesn’t exist.