Beware the Indifferent

“Indifference, Year of Peril”
Painting by Thomas Hart Benton

don’t be fooled by the cool and aloof
the vacant ones seeming impervious to
emotional darts or accusative arrows
unmoved by uncommon affliction
unaffected by obvious blessing or curse
ungiven to judgment and thusly
unmarked by their own culpability
gliding along upon amoral principles
floating among all the finest salons
giving insincere toast to men’s virtue

uncannily surefoot they stride upon
unstable grounds in full heave of truth
no heartlight gives glow from within them
they must steal what is bright from their betters
so their friendship is never benign
these are the world’s most dangerous people
for emptiness bears metaphysical weight
enough heavy to crush whomsoever they touch
compressing the soul of humanity into
its deadpan disquieting animal essence