New Thoughts

The Market Magus

To all advertisers

The Market Magus
Haunts the Hills Of Shame
With diamonds on his fingers
Gold anklets on his legs
Ready to control your journey
Beware of him
For he has no mercy
No pity for guilt-free travellers
No care for pilgrims
He simply dares to plunder them
Every voyager in the Land of Plenty
Will find him intruding in your way
He is the master of mangling magic
Casting spells
That change the world as you see it
Conjuring forth images
That transfix you
Beguile you
Bewilder you
And lead you to his chosen destination
When you see him take care
For he is very cunning
A maestro of deception
A pundit of punishment for the unwary
A champion of one sided competition
So be on your guard when next you journey
Heed not his guileful words
Be ready for his sorcery
Stay firm on your journey
Choose your own destination
And watch him shrivel away to non existence

The Phantom Refugee

There he was
Like a wandering wraith
With a tattered bag slung over his shoulder
Walking down from the ancient hills of my land
I was amazed to see him there
For there is nothing but ocean
On the other side of those hills
As he came towards me
I noticed his face was alien
He wore a peasant’s hat
The kind you see in foreign farms
I bade him welcome
He smiled at me
Then spoke in language I did not understand
And kept on walking towards the town
Soon he was gone
And I returned to my work on the farm
Two days later, on Saturday
I learnt from my paper
Of a man who came to my land by boat
Illegally it was said
And I felt an overwhelming shame
For I knew this was not illegal
There is a law that has saved millions
Asylum sanctuary
By any means including boat
Is the internationally legal* right
Of all humans…
That ghost still haunts me now

*Everyone has the right to seek asylum and be free from persecution, regardless of how or in what country they arrive. Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 Refugee Convention 1951.

Time

Time
Einstein taught us
Is not constant
We the people
As sources of energy
Illustrate the great man’s notion
Of relativity
For all humans
All individuals on Earth
Each moment happens
At a rate unique to that person
That is the physics of it
But what of the psychology?
Aha!
Now that is an interesting question
Take the boring sermon for instance
O how slowly time moves
For that captive audience
But with the hunter in the hills
How quickly the deer moves to safety
A moment’s delay and a prey is lost
In Guantánamo Bay
Chronology is mutilated
There for the prisoners it no longer exists
And what of the past
The people and events
Influencing all that we do and think today?
Time is moderated by history
Which is what we have to influence the present
Without it
A Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Genghis or Attila
May well rise again and hold sway over us all

Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar
In 44BCE
Was dictator perpetuo*
Soldier
Author
Politician
A schemer seeking power
Seen as a danger
That must be eliminated
Enter Brutus and Cassius
And others
Murder follows
A fitting end for a tyrant?
But wait a minute
Was Caesar a narcissistic sociopath?
Was his power an outcome of fraudulent designs?
Of lies?
Can there be another Caesar today?
An equivalent in modern times?
A contemporary tzar?
A kaiser?
An Commander Caesar?
An aspirant who can do no wrong?
Now that is the crux of this story
Giving rise to another question
Is there alive today a would-be leader
Seeking timeless power, absolute leadership
Endless control of others’ destinies
Who needs to beware of the Ides of March?**

*Latin: ”dictator for life.”

** The date of Caesar’s assassination: March 15, 44 BCE.

Weapons

Holden and Ford cars
We make no more
But protected mobility vehicles
We create aplenty
Bushmaster is the name
A four-wheel drive armoured machine
Designed by the people’s ADI*
In February ’44
Combat is such a handy spur for the market
Lucre! Lucre! Lucre! Is the battle cry
But who gets the money?
All our citizens no more
For in November ’99 ADI was privatised
Sold off to the rich and powerful
Who?
Why, the République française**
And now
They are sold around the world
To many foreign lands
But whence goes all the profit?
Why, to many foreign hands
Crusades are so lucrative
And the media play their hand
Girding all the loins up
Over danger to our land
So come on all you statesmen
Find someone to deplore
Get your bank files ready
And start a lucrative war

*Australian Defence Industries

**France

royciebaby

r