mingling moral sense
with the problem of self-determination
in a mass audience underbred
through sudden shifts
between virtues and vices

the expatriate god interferes
with a baffled and vulgar monde
half-wishing, like the crumpled ghost
of an old gentleman,

to be distant yet ever-present,
to be beloved yet underestimated by the multitudes —
a sphinx-like chronicler of impending crisis:
serene, disturbing, and dining
on dried figs and Madeira

[Hillary Lyon is editor for the small press poetry journals The Laughing Dog, and Veil: Journal of Darker Musings. She holds an MA in Literature from SMU. Her work has appeared recently in Red River Review, From the Depths, and Shot Glass Journal. She lives in Southern Arizona.]