“I’m fine,” I say, a two-word cage,
While watching greed consume the stage;
I wear a smile, thinned by trial,
To mask a heart distilling denial.

“I’m fine,” I say, though children starve
While boardrooms feast and profits carve
Another fissure splits the land—
What sickness guides this greedy hand?

“I’m fine,” I say, breathing fumes of diesel hate,
As microplastics rain down, sealing our fate,
And neighbors curse with venom-tongue
While hope’s last anthem comes undone.

“I’m fine,” I say, as they poison rivers and minds,
With toxic speech that numbs and blinds,
I watch the last wild creatures fall
Behind this mask that buries all.

So when I say, “I’m fine,” beware—
This borrowed script veils raw despair;
The truth’s too vast to speak aloud—
I’ll blend back in the smiling crowd.