I put these words together as a kind of confessional:

I am a privileged white male, 

I have no needs today. 

My coffee beans are shipped from afar, 

and likewise my chocolate bar.

My bank account is doing fine,

retirement checks flow in. 

My house is paid off (now isn’t that grand?) 

by taking the natives’ land. 

Yea, though I walk the city streets, 

my heart shall have no fear. 

My sex and my skin protect me from ill;

the rapist and racist quell. 

I fill my tank with fossil fuel, 

the only way to go.

As polar caps melt, I turn on the heat, 

and drive to eat red meat. 

E’en though my blinking tail light’s out,

I need not be on guard.

The men in blue are on my side, 

their pistols and tasers hide. 

And when I lay me down to sleep 

my dreams are mostly sweet. 

I’ve paid Uncle Sam to put up a fight, 

should any foe spoil the night.

Dear Lord and Father of my kind, 

forgive my foolish ways!

Reclothe me in my rightful mind,

restorative ways to find.

Wayne Lehman, Lititz, Pa.