A Passage from Rilke

Just some words from Ranier Maria Rilke's The Divine Hours: The Book of Poverty and Death, (III, 31) that spoke to me. Perhaps instead of the word "cities" one could substitue another term - consumerism, commercialism, or perhaps some other "ism." You decide...

The cities only care for what is theirs
and uproot all that's in their path.
They crush the creatures like hollow sticks
and burn up nations like kindling.

Their people serve the culture of the day,
losing all balance and moderation,
calling their aimlessness progress,
driving recklessly where they once drove slow,
and with all that metal and glass
making such a racket.

It's as if they were under a spell:
they can no longer be themselves.
Money keeps growing, takes all their strength,
and empties them like a scouring wind,
while they wait for wine and poisonous passions
to spur them to fruitless occupations.