Zero Sum

Each penny you drop in that well as you wish
Corrodes into poison that stifles a fish.

Each balloon you let fly on warm summer days
Gets lodged in seals’ throats and they too pass away.

Each rainbow you see that brightens your mood
Is somebody’s torrent of rainfall and flood.

Each dime on the ground that you should pick up
Fell out of the pocket of a guy with hard luck.

Each triumph you earn, though wrought at great cost,
Means that someone else had to have lost.

So all the good times in the past that you’ve had,
Means you’ve made someone, somewhere, sad.

And all the good fortune that should befall you,
It results from someone else’s getting screwed.

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