The Table

I.

The results were calculated

Stacked in neat piles

Rows upon a table

Awaiting the hands

That would flutter to them

Anxious fingers itching

For the words that would cement

Their fate.

II.

A world run by few

And questioned by fewer,

Laws set forth with

By the well-to-do

With ungained experience

Their only key to the world,

A knowledge base lacking

And yet the power sat

Within their lap

As they provided results,

Changing calculations

And altering sums

To achieve the best outcome

For their pockets alone.

III.

And still the hands fled

Towards the table top

To pull down the titles

Appointed to them

And the sum of their worth

According to those

Who know nothing

But own everything

In a world run by few

And questioned by fewer.

IV.

In the crowd

A different breed emerged

Starved for too long

By the choices made by the few

For a league not their own,

A battle cry erupts

Faces turn

Taking in the cloaked figures

Coming forward.

V.

A gasp from the table

A mad scramble

Away from set rules

And distributed wealth

That dwindled to pebbles,

A cult hiding beneath

The structure they created

Tipping the table forth

As barrier,

As protection

And providing freefall

To those foolishly depending upon it.

VI.

The cloaked figures suspected

The division that would be created

The distractions set forth

By the few,

Anticipation and preparation

Far different from reality-

A turning point amongst the people

The crowd’s fear

Judgment clouded

By the uncertainty created

By the lost rules

The discarded slips

They were meant to catch-

A crowd imploding-

Ignoring the war raging within the room-

The few versus the knowledge-

Being drowned by

The people they want to help-

Ignored and pushed aside

As other angers overwhelm

What would have aided

Those suffering.

Katrina Thornley is a nature poet. novelist, and freelance journalist that resides in Rhode Island. She has two poetry collections currently published, a novel, as well as a short story anthology. Her poetry collections "Arcadians: Lullaby in Nature" and "Arcadians: Wooden Mystics" were inspired by a local park and life in her small rural town. You can find them on Amazon now!

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