Hey There…

Endings

Well here we are at last
Somewhere
Worn out with life
Cast aside by chief executives
As a penalty for ageing
Adrift, but buoyed up by memories
Of times that were different
Once walking freely with no stick
Leaping up stairs several at a time
Hitting a boundary on that green sward
Teaching as my other game
Always employed when younger
In classes that never end
Shopping for trousers that were inevitably too long
And had to be altered
Plenty of money to spend
Once but now it’s all gone
Pensions are a burden for the current taxpayer
Enjoyed dancing
But a little shy with women at first
People of the past are there in my mind too
Most of them dead now
But not for me
So that’s it
Not much left today
Just a few mementos:
A worn out cricket cap
Some fading press clippings
Tout passe
As I sadly wait for the end
Of everything
But wait a minute
There is a ray of light
I’ve been in love twice
I loved to learn and learnt to love
And that, in spite of everything, has made a difference

Fabulist

To a well known and popular public figure

Look at you
Such a sham
Yet so powerful
Conniving your way to success
With fiction
Placing your honest opponents under duress
With beguiling half-truths
Promoting your virtue
When you speak
By spreading platitudes on the air
Like special treats
For the gullible to devour
And accept you
Despite the reality of what you really are
That is your way
Inconvenient truths are never part of your discourse
When found out
You reply with an artificial smile
And divert attention
With someone else’s sins
And so you float through life
Like a rotten egg in hot water
Until
Inevitably the protective shell bursts
To fill the kitchen of life
With a ghastly aroma
Until an open window saves the denizens
From the sickening, ugly redolence
Revealing what you are

Merchants Of War

O Minister you are an agent
Of weaponry that kills
A paramour of unease that leads to death
The military industrial complex you foster
Keeps the economy strong
Because of the enemies you create
And the fairy tales you cunningly give reality to
There’s profit in the merchandise you promote
You with your fake news of menace
And your sombre face in the news prattling on
About danger unlimited
And the need for Star Wars readiness
Dear God
How you deny the needy
The mentally cursed
The sick and the poor
With your mission statements of aggression!
Hospital wards
Are replaced by atomic submarines
Learning
By drones that kill with remote guidance
And food for the hungry
By missiles that mutilate foreign fields
That is the destiny you create
For the dwellers in today
And the children of tomorrow
So that at the going down of the sun
And in the morning
We will remember you

The Furies*

Beware, take care
The Furies are on the march for you
Your treatment of other mortals
Especially your lying
Will wreak their vengeance and retribution
So stop it now
Your twisted, cunning chicanery
Leading people astray
With concocted photo shots
To beguile the viewer
And orations of sucrose
Pretending to be what you are not:
Friendly, kind, truthful and ethical,
Someone grafted into power
You do not deserve respect
For you are a monster of intrigue
You dream up deception
Like Satan on all saints’ day
Smiling
Beguiling
Concocting fake virtues
That exist only in your devious mind
You cloak yourself in piety
But you prey every day
So heed me now
While you are still allowed
To roam unconstrained
I would not vote for you
If you were
The only lawmaker left on Earth

*The Furies were three Roman goddesses of vengeance and retribution who punished mortals for misdeeds. Perjury was one of their aversions.

Multiple Expletives

There’s a storm in the offing
Despite political denial
The wind murders trees
And the forecast is endlessly vile
The rain never stops
Turns our streets into mud
And assassinates our dreams
While my business is ruined by flood
So that is why
I reply with multiple expletives

Wages are low and profit is high
Corporations rule the land
Kakistocracy runs the legislature
As democracy turns to sand
The law is an ass devised by rogues
Designed to favour the crooks
Robber barons are forgiven their taxes
And their allies rig the books
So that is why
I reply with multiple expletives

Weapons are simply big business
And enemies are created by liars
The profit is high though innocents die
There’s money in warlike desires
Yes conflict is highly lucrative
Making guns and tanks and subs
With your song and dance if you trigger a fight
You’re compatible merely with grubs
So that is why
I reply with multiple expletives

Pardon my cursing
It’s time for change so I’ll start rehearsing

royciebaby