The Godfather

We are told that he is a pious churchgoer,
that he is a person devoted to the family.
To many children  he has been a godfather  
and by that name is known by everyone.
They respectfully address him as 'Don'.
He dons the mantle of strict respectability
but that cloak hides more sinister motives

His family business extends far and wide
but he will tell you that his organisation 
is no one else’s business. "It's our thing,"
or "la cosa nostra", to use his vernacular.
Yet their ‘thing’ has impinged on us all;
the Mafia's tentacles lethally embraced
and spread misery all over the globe.

© Luigi Pagano  2021