The Hunger for Money
I was once a king in the empire of commerce,
a CEO crowned with gold not by wisdom,
but by the endless flow of numbers on a ledger.
My pockets were full, yet my heart —
a barren desert thirsting for rain.
The more I drank from the chalice of wealth,
the more parched my soul became;
money was seawater,
it promised relief,
yet deepened the ache of my thirst.
I believed riches would buy freedom,
but they purchased only fear,
a thousand sleepless nights,
and admiration that bent like reeds in the wind,
admiration bought — never earned.
I labored not for love of the craft,
but to keep the machine turning,
to feed the illusion,
to maintain a throne carved of fragile glass.
Even as I traveled the globe,
I saw the same masquerade:
value weighed not by virtue,
but by the weight of one’s vault.
Wealth had become theater,
its stage set with golden curtains.
The rich paraded as actors,
clothed in applause that was never real,
while the poor — seated in silence —
remained the unwilling audience.
And with all my riches, I was hollow.
Gold echoed louder than my own voice;
diamonds sparkled, yet darkened my soul.
I learned at last:
money cannot buy happiness,
it can only counterfeit its glow.
If respect may be purchased,
then respect itself is debased;
if honor bends to currency,
then honor is lost.
And so I saw the truth:
society has become a game,
its rules written by the rich,
its players trapped,
its meaning vanished.
The hunger for money —
a hunger that devours the man himself,
until nothing remains
but a shadow in a gilded cage.
Copyright © Chanda Katonga | Year Posted 2025
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