the lotus raised in muddy waters
became a promise of better days
a stolen childhood was reborn in you
a forgotten youth was relived in you
and the earth kept spinning
the drive kept building
now you’re many miles ahead
yet far from the goalpost

they say you did a fine job
with this upward mobility
but you’re tethered to the path ahead
and the one that’s left behind
the opportunity cost of desire
that plagues every mind

with a fuller stomach
with surplus air in your lungs
there must be a way out of this chaos
these smiles hiding silent screams
how do you honor a life that was built
upon the pyre of middle-class dreams?

while the billionaire remains insatiable
and the hedonist avoids turning inward
the ascetic tells you, it’s all in vain
but even the destitute cope
through the dignity of choice
and not the pity of subsidized grain

the time they lost was given to you
and now it’s slipping away
make what you want of it
a heaven of hell—a hell of heaven
are you ahead of millions
or far from a moving goalpost?