Poems Dear Reader

Advice To The Mature

So
You are old my friend and suffering
From feelings of rejection
Awaken brave soul; it need not be so
For you have the power of experience
A might, a vigour, an energy
Unknown to the poor, misguided ones
Who think youth is the prime of life
Come now
And let us consider the triumph of age
Politicians have crossed your path so many times
You are a bullshit detector
Heard so many lies
You diagnose one
With one look into the eyes of the liar
You have learnt the art of cooking
So junk food is an aberration
Time is not an imposed vicious schedule
But a tool for reading and writing
For remembering the triumphs of the past
For freedom of choice for yet untried adventures
You travel from place to place with calm dignity
Not questing to outdo a speeding rival
You have friends to share your journey
Tried and tested by the years, not paper pledges
As for wisdom, true wisdom
It is not for sale
It is not a bargain in a five and ten cents store
It depends on learning, learning from your mistakes,
Thus, if you have erred my friend
Be of good cheer
Bravo for the lessons your errors have taught you
For now you are ready to live wisely and well
And your place will never be
Among those timid souls
Who have so much still to learn about themselves

One Pet Aversion

There are things I despise now I am old
And have learnt to decode follies better
These days many things tend to speed up my pulse
And incur my disgust to the letter
But one pet aversion I need to speak on
If you’ll lend me a little of your time
It’s concerning one pile of shady deeds
That to me come close to a crime
Political sham is my subject here
I squirm like a worm when I see a poseur
Who claims to be gentle and pious
Rage on the stage at Question Time
With a violent and deadly bias
To spread a vile animosity
And cruel words that, soaked in water,
Would give it a deadly viscosity
Now that is just the beginning
Of this odious charlatan’s sinning
To my endless pain his photo shots
Invade my troubled mind
He will nurse a child unreconciled
Masquerading as kind
He will share his jokes to chosen old folks
As a posture of kindness hangs high
He’ll share a selfie, shake countless hands
False witness no one can deny
When blame comes his way he has much to say
As he sings an innocent song
He will transfer the guilt to someone else
And never admit he is wrong
This above all of his deadly ways
Turns my deference into dust
The funds he receives from the big end of town
Make me totally withdraw my trust
So there, that’s all I have left to say
But I’m free to cast my reparative vote comes election day

Keep Our Nation Safe

Vote for me you compliant listeners
For I keep our nation safe
The only welfare that matters is strength
And a strong economy
Where weapons can be developed
In what are known as defence industries
With jobs jobs jobs
That’s a place where you will find them
Public opinion needs
Fear engendered by the Yellow Press
Plus pathetic climate policy
To avoid the distractions of science
With a lump of coal in your hand
And endless claims of danger without proof
Border security
For example
Sounds so good at election time
And will keep the racists happy
But why bother?
Who or what are we protecting you from?
Why, haven’t you heard?
It’s our opposition, friends with our enemies,
Linked to those hostile forces
A menace to our way of life
Poised on our frontiers to cause us strife
How that warning brings us votes
When repeated every day
Even if it is a fiction
Devised in shady back rooms
So heed me now in this our stark dystopia
I will aways tell the truth except when inconvenient
War we allude to with warlike insistence
So elect me
And let our pliable spin govern your flawed existence

QED

Quod Erat Demonstrandum*

Now
I wish to make a statement:
Australia has no peer
As a dealer in punishment
For refugees who arrive by boat
We have set a pattern,
Now known throughout the globe
As the Australian way
We have become a role model
No flexibility in our modus operandi
No nonsense based on pity
Contaminates what we do
Seeking asylum by boat is not strictly illegal
Legal it is indeed in international law
But denied as such by our dedicated voices
When combined with the people smugglers excuse
And followed by vicious endless detention
This practice stops the boats and wins elections
Gives us strong, stable, united, loving families
All free of unlimited foreign access
Thus we will decide who comes to our country
When and in what way
How dare you say this is racism!
Not so
Just common sense we say
And the votes come flooding in
Unwaveringly
We have worked hard to achieve this
Babies overboard
The Tampa ruthlessness
Cocos and Christmas Islands no longer Australian destinations
And imprisonment for eternity
That is why in our way we lead the world
Quod Erat Demonstrandum

*”Which was to be demonstrated.”

Decrepit Me

Thank you for giving me your seat
Do you travel by train often?
Neither do I
No need to talk loudly
I have very good hearing aids
On your way home I suppose
Hmm. What is your calling?
Aha! Me too
I was also a teacher once
Retired long ago
Some twenty years or so
Still have a brain
Read a lot
Even have a blog: billybaby.com
Not a soul wants me any more
Except for my few followers on the net
Nobody knows I exist
I can still think however
Still reason
And recognise hypocritical political ravings
I’ve seen so many
Could still teach but they wouldn’t hear of it
I’m just left to die
But I’m not cooperating too well
I’ll be ninety in two months
I’m hanging on to life as I still love it
You’re very courteous to me
Thank you, you are a gem
Dissemblers tend to be afraid of me
Because I’ve seen them all
All the idiots from Hitler to Trump
In the presence of fools I can still spill the beans
The has beens
So I remain a threat to the villains of the world
Ah here’s my station
Nice to have met you; take care

royciebaby