A Million Faceless People

A Million Faceless People

Walking aimlessly through the world

They stumble and run into each other—

Unable to find their way in life,

Isolated and without hope they suffer.

Yet together with the masses they march

An army with no direction to go—

As they drift and wafer in front of us

Their purpose, no one seems to know.

With ears they cannot hear

And eyes they cannot see

Yet they follow blindly and listen

To what they are told to believe

Am I so different from these masses?

In this world, will I find my way?

Instead, I refuse to snort or bleat,

While all these sheep have gone astray.

I raise my voice as if to shout,

And do my best to persuade

But their futures are as blurry as they seem.

As a million faceless people go on parade.

By Greg Butz

May 11^th, 2009

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I wrote this poem after visiting China, however, it’s not a reaction against China nor its people. I had just purchased new prescription sun- glasses, however I was unable to wear them. Instead, I wore a different pair of non-prescription glasses. So to me, the world appeared to be a blur. From that, I turned to Adam Laforrest and remarked, “I see a million faceless people.” So with that inspiration in mind, it became the foundation for the rest of my poem. It’s a poem about a directionless purpose, and basically I see that a lot in the United States. People going with the “flow” and just following whoever they deem a leader—in my estimation, this is very sad.