no matter how magnificent
the world is,
its beauty still relies
on how kindly it treats,
the sinners
and the saints —
the accused who is forgiving,
of the most sinful innocent,
who both ignored rules
but became winners
of the gamethis is why
the hypocrisy of the world
is better dressed
as a paradox,
because we've been broke
long enough,
to even be honest
with ourselves,
and we have no way of knowing
if this emptiness is a ruse
caused by love,
or by strange, capitalist lovers
Explanation: Capitalism, by definition, may be debatable in terms of its benefits and risks. It might be good for some economies; But on the other hand, it may have a lot of downsides for small businesses and for demographics below the upper middle class. Regardless of how we perceive capitalism, the poem has an underlying tone of social commentary, possibly criticizing capitalism in the process, considering how it is presented. In the poem, capitalism is used as a metaphor for love, to which the speaker alludes with bitterness. The first stanza, in particular, utilizes oxymoron and irony to describe how the world tends to treat sinners and saints the same way, because even the most innocent person commits sin (line 8); And both benefited by not playing by the rules. The speaker continues to describe this "hypocrisy" that made us "broke" (12-16), and we have no way of knowing if we were deceived by capitalism, or by people with capitalist mindsets (lines 20-23). Love, like capitalism, may deceive.
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a collection of poems
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are original works of Joaquin Arig