Tax Haven Parasites

listen

while the sky splits open
over cities that do not have ring lights
while the desert wind
carries the sound of metal

while history
does its old red work again

there you are
on a balcony in Dubai
filming your fear

you fled your own countries
like rats from a ledger

ran from taxes
ran from the idea

that the roads you drive on
the schools you brag about
the hospitals that saved your mother

were built by people
who paid

while you built a life
of affiliate links
and teeth bleached
to the colour of surrender

Dubai
your glass terrarium

a kingdom of money
where silence is law
and the towers rise
on the bent backs
of men who will never
see the pools you float in

men who die quietly
in the heat

so your sunset
can look expensive

now the war
wanders too close

now the airspace closes

now the parasites tremble

not for the cities
not for the children
not for the old men
who remember the last war

no

you tremble
because the algorithm
is suddenly nervous

because the champagne balcony
is not perfectly insulated
from consequence

you cry into the camera
we are scared

good

be scared

for once the world
has stopped pretending
your life matters

for once the sky
does not care
about your discount code
your detox tea
your coward’s escape

missiles cross the night

and somewhere
a woman is digging
through concrete

for her brother

but you

you are adjusting
the lighting
so the followers
can watch you
experience war
from a tax shelter

like the small
hollow animals
you trained yourselves
to become.