Love Poem: Human Illusions
Richard Gugliotta Avatar
Written by: Richard Gugliotta

Human Illusions

Insidiously instructing ignorance inserted into him, now handed down to them, 
he preaches to his quire of bemused brethren. “Dispose of you all your belongings 
to those who need them most and you shall be delivered paradise.” “Show others 
grace and you shall be granted good health in body and spirit.” “Hear what I say 
for I say all that is pure and holy.” The Minions scatter secure that their tender 
minds have been matured in a matter of moments by this hoodwinking hustler using 
the intensity of the eternal as his means of persuasion. On the ride home in his 
big ticket BMW the benefactor ravishes his good looks and immense intuition. He 
calls his wife with fiction of a late night with much to do. She submits and agrees 
to clean and clothe the kids for bed, but before their heads rest on their pillow, 
they pray for love and kindness for others just like their father has taught them. 
As they lay sleeping unsuspecting of his dirty dealing, the adulterer lies with his 
mistress unmoved by their devotion. Years later on his death bed he summons his 
siblings for love and affection but now in their older age, they have inherited his 
infection. To indifferent to care, to repelled to love, they scoff at his pleads, 
and misdeeds, leaving him to face his demons in the same way he has always left 
them. Alone.