Your Layer

Whenever you get
Too many people,
You get unfairness,

So much unfairness.
You can level it,
If you don’t mind plagues,

Catastrophic wars,
Or famines. Progress
In technology

Doesn’t help smooth things,
Makes them pointier,
Piled high, swiftly strange.

Down near the bottom
Of the unfairness,
However, is where

It gets interesting.
Not the base. You know
The pyramid’s base,

Can see the crushing
In front of your face,
The terrible weight

Tapering to blue
Skies up at the top.
But near the bottom,

Just over your head.
That’s where the dark weight
Of unfairness sits,

Always, most of it,
Just above the base.
That’s likely to be

You and everyone
Advantaged enough,
Privileged enough

To eat enough food,
Find somewhere to sleep,
A little less crushed

By those way above,
While most of the weight
Borne by those beneath.