A new sonnet for the beginning of June: principality

principality

It seems amazing that I once was there —
upon the steps, around the streets, indeed
existing where I could not live, for where
I looked upon these hallmarks, knew that greed
is how these denizens exist—so do
I criticize the members of this state?
No, I am not so bold, for they are few
and privileged, and for them what is great
and extraordinary to our sight
is normal and expected in their eyes
and they would not imagine that this right
is not the common state and enterprise
of anyone they know—yet for the mass
we see them as if through museum glass.