{"id":1221,"date":"2013-11-16T12:47:58","date_gmt":"2013-11-16T17:47:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/?p=1221"},"modified":"2013-11-16T12:47:58","modified_gmt":"2013-11-16T17:47:58","slug":"poem-picket-fences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2013\/11\/16\/poem-picket-fences\/","title":{"rendered":"POEM: Picket Fences"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\">More people are imprisoned<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: large;\">By picket fences<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: large;\">Than steel bars<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: large;\">Sometimes by splinters<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: large;\">Sometimes by stakes<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: large;\">Through the heart<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: large;\">Lonely in the end<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: large;\">To come home<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Dreams of white picket fences have waylayed many more lives than prisons or jails.\u00a0 The temptations of desperation and criminality that lead to prison are much more easily identified, and such temptations have obvious negative societal reactions that help keep them in check.\u00a0 The temptations of materialism and comfort are much more subtle, and even more pervasive.\u00a0 The structure and mores of Western civilization reinforce, even laud, such temptations.\u00a0 The fact that the worldview where &#8220;greed is good&#8221; can persist at all is the best evidence for the backwardness of modern, capitalistic society.\u00a0 Religious folks have commented that the greatest accomplishment of the devil is to convince you that he doesn&#8217;t exist.\u00a0 This is a stunning metaphor for recognizing the powerful human tendency to downplay, ignore, or even lift to the highest value, our dark side.\u00a0 Only by a steady awareness of our dark side, and a commitment to an equal compassion for ourselves and others, can we hold in check our baser instincts.\u00a0 Of course, wrapping our most base instincts in dreams of white picket fences may pass for civilization, but it still leaves a lot to be desired. The sadness and disillusionment reflected in this poem is about the all-too-common reality that chasing our dreams may leave us feeling alone, even in our dream house.\u00a0 May you set your eyes and heart upon the finest things in life, and wherever this leads you, may you feel at home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More people are imprisoned By picket fences Than steel bars Sometimes by splinters Sometimes by stakes Through the heart Lonely in the end To come home Dreams of white picket fences have waylayed many more lives than prisons or jails.\u00a0 &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2013\/11\/16\/poem-picket-fences\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,15],"tags":[483,339,135,538,393,392,117,431,359,89,548,658,94,649,601,31,53,290,492,85,550],"class_list":["post-1221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poems","category-political-and-philosophical-musings","tag-awareness","tag-compassion","tag-disillusionment","tag-dream","tag-dreams","tag-evil","tag-greed","tag-heart","tag-life","tag-materialism","tag-modern","tag-poems","tag-poetry","tag-prison","tag-reality","tag-religious","tag-short-poems","tag-society","tag-temptation","tag-western-civilization","tag-worldview"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>POEM: Picket Fences | Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings | Top Pun&#039;s Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! 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