Development
Development is the way of the world
Let us expand
Not according to the needs of civilisation
But merely in terms of the triumph of opportunists
Whoever does the deal
The best deal
Becomes the authorised vandal
To eliminate the old
Hide the sky with concrete
Build stairways to the heaven of profiteers
Crowd gullible people into belfries with no bells
The slums of tomorrow
Mutilate the landscape with discordant shapes
Irrelevant to Nature’s loveliness
You can hear the coins of corruption
Tumbling into accounts in complicit banks
An unplanned cacophony of chaos
And so progress blunders on
Bringing change for the aggrandisement of the few
And the detriment of the many
Instead
Let us go then, you and I
And find a place unoccupied by greed
Where beauty created when time began
Still remains
Let us make there a new city
A place where all the elegance of the world belongs
Planned, inspiring, welcoming
And shared by all
In the calm tranquility of justice
“A Light At The End Of The Tunnel”
Words heard in the news: October 7, 2021
So things are looking up, rumour has it
Only eight people in our part of the world
Died yesterday from coronavirus
One in his twenties too…
Any man’s death admonishes me
If I am ending the lockdown prematurely
But not to worry
There are other matters to consider
In the light of business interests
That light at the end of the tunnel
We will defy danger and struggle back
To customary existence
Just look at the overriding benefits
It’s the best of all possible worlds
Normal funerals will be allowed for those eight dead
Schools will resume early
To bring normality back to the lives
Of parents who can do what they are supposed to do
And go to work
Pupils will fill classrooms once again
Sharing the air with each other
Especially if the windows don’t open
It is certainly possible some may die of the virus
Teachers too, more likely
But we must yield to reality, the Trojan Horse of sentimentality
And get on with things that matter
Before it is too late
This above all
That virus will be with us for ever
That is the way things are
We must learn to live with it
And surge boldly
Heads held high
Into the stock market of death
Get The Hell Out Of Dodge
Bribes are everywhere
And politicians building shooting galleries
To get people’s votes
Mining licences expanded
Using shady deals
Alcohol flowing in the gutters of the streets
Banks robbing people
Instead of the other way round
Snake oil legally sold
Just by changing the name
Professed doves carrying guns
The local rag
Printing only lies authorised by the boss
Land grabs by rich bastards
So the poor can’t afford a house
Large crowds gathering where infection abounds
Riots by blockheads in favour of dying
That’s it
I’ve done my best and failed to put things right
There’s nothing left for me to do
But get the hell out of Dodge
Lilliput Revisited
You may not have heard the news afoot
Of the social change in Lilliput
The conflict between big and little enders
Has been changed by liberals with strong agendas
They have solved the opening variance riddle
By impaling all eggs in the middle
But alas for the poor people’s peace and quiet
Other matters have caused a riot
Stupid things done across that ocean
That inevitably led to disastrous commotion
When doctors needed to jab with impunity
Some zanies declared their rights to immunity
As peril threatened outside their homes
They flocked to the meadow where danger roams
The warnings came with gentle insistence
But they foolishly failed to keep that distance
Then a war was kindled with Blefuscu again
By a former leader, the most warlike of men
No one at all gave him a mention
So he threatened the peace to get attention
Thus I can say things are now much worse
And that is one reason for this verse
Which will end with words on the death of trust
For Gulliver’s gone home once more in disgust
Star Gazing
Look at that star
Gazing down on us
Like a fact-finder
Observing the consequences of our lives
So bright it is
Part of our pathetic existence
That seems so mundane
Yet they are wondrous, those stars
Look at the rest of them up there
Conquering the darkness
So many of them
All so far away
The light from the nearest one
Travelling at many thousand miles per second
Is more than eight years old
The soft radiance from others
Began its journey to our eyes
Before we were born
From others still
Before mankind was born
So to view the stars
Is to rest your eyes on the enduring past
History bidding you good evening
But who are we?
Just grains of sand on the beach of the universe?
Impotent?
Disinterested?
No! We are questioning reeds
Growing in a forest of uncertainty
Yearning to discover
Wanting to uncover
The realities of everything around us
Determined to keep the air clean and clear
So that we can study the stars forever
With feelings that enhance our humanity
Pollution
Pollution! Pollution!
Pollution is not the solution
It’s time for all creatures
The good word reaches
To stage a revolution
Steel! Steel!
The profit’s not real
And that is a reason
In this visionary season
To tell you the way I feel
Coal! Coal!
Plays a ruinous role
Infects the air
In a manner not fair
With gain its cardinal goal
Oil! Oil!
The king to whom rich men are loyal
When they burn it in cars
We can’t see the stars
A foul scheme we must foil
Plastic! Plastic!
Let’s be iconoclastic
Promote this caper
Use wrapping paper
And trip the light fantastic
Joy! Joy!
Let’s fashion for the hoi polloi
A world that is pure
With eternal allure
That no pay dirt can destroy
royciebaby
Royce Levi Australian Teacher and Author 