Royce Levi Australian Teacher and Author

Alternative Reality

“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” George Orwell

It’s time for change

Just listen to him
He seems to live in a parallel universe
Lies to the right of him
Lies to the left of him
Misinformation in between
What an intrepid schemer he is
Deception flows from his tongue
Like ooze from an active Vesuvius
Condemning his opponents as villains
Lying about everything relevant to his goals
Praising himself like Narcissus loudly reincarnated
That’s it then
“The time has come,” the Walrus said*
To give respect to the slang word kibosh
To end the charade
To let justice have its say
To recognise and expose deception
To kill the demons that savagely distort truth
That’s it then
Be it known
Forever and a day
Or longer if the spirit moves you
Let the orators proclaim across the world
This man will never ever ever ever ever get my vote
Quod erat demonstrandum

*From Alice In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll satirising the abuse of power and greed. “The time has come,” the Walrus said, “To talk of many things: Of shoes—and ships—and sealing-wax— Of cabbages—and kings— And why the sea is boiling hot— And whether pigs have wings.”

Dancing Shoes

There are my old dancing shoes
Look at them
Quite dishevelled aren’t they?
Lying there now unused
The soles almost worn through
A tattered relic of my past
What memories they conjure forth!
Ah yes
The quick-step
How excited we were, she and I
Laughter and fun in her eyes as we spun
Round and round and round
Like liberated children
Easily keeping up with the whirlwind music
Then a stronger memory
Ah yes
The jazz waltz
How close we were
Slowly sliding amidst the harmony
Love in her eyes
As I heard the angels sing
With the lights turned low appropriately
Ah yes
What a treasure recollection is
She is long dead now
And I am blundering on in my infirmity
Walking stick dependent
In danger of falling with every step I take
But the mind has mountains
And I’m standing atop one now
Because of those shoes I am not alone

It’s Called A Game

Just look at them
Hurtling themselves
Devastatingly towards each other
Crushingly
So unflinchingly
And so destructively
Beware of empathy
Or you’ll feel the pain when they pound
Clash against each other
You must be brave
Ignore the agony
Get up and run back to your place
Be ready for the next onslaught
Mann the guns
For whoever runs towards you
What is that oval object they are carrying?
Is it a bomb?
Or a precious thing
More valued than life itself?
And look at those people cheering
The gladiatorial crowd
The mob
The horde
The Coliseum flock
You must please them
Crush the enemy
Or adroitly escape his clutches
And cross the Siegfried Line**
That all warriors lust to pass
As the bystanders pay their fees to gape

**The Siegfried Line was a German “last wall” line in World War II.

Follies Listed

The military industrial complex
Is a thriving entity
Funded by the deaths of countless souls
Google Wiki’s
List of destroyed heritage
And your sad mind
Will be sickened
By the loss of so much of our past
Climate is still our danger
Heated by the greed
Of moneyed entrepreneurs
Education
Remains burdened
By unnecessarily excessive costs
Alcohol and tobacco
Continue to be
Part of flourishing fatal enterprises
Needed medicine
Stays
Out of reach for countless patients
Poverty persists
For an appalling number
Of our suffering fellow humans
Lawyers are still employed
Concerning a host of criminal acts
So get you gone
You political deceiver
You structured dreamer
You architect of your own fortunes
With your clinical, self-satisfied smile
Don’t you dare tell me
This is a golden age

royciebaby

Unspoken

On an unholy war

You hear those cries
As children die
Amidst the folly of a blood-soaked war
And say nothing
You heed the anguish
Of those distressed mortals
Whose venerable dwellings
Have just been turned into debris and dust
And say nothing
You perceive the wailing
Of those war-torn souls
Close to death without food and water
And say nothing
You notice
The anguish of those people
Now utterly without a native land to call their own
And say nothing
You listen duteously
To the fascistic war cries
In your own belligerent country
And say nothing
Now the fascists
Strike blows against all people and things you love
Bringing you disaster and death
You still say nothing
As you are alone
Amidst the chaos of your infinite self interest

Black Tribute

You are so kind
Gently tending to my aching body
Feeling my pulse
Reading my data
On the blood pressure machine
Scanning
My eyes and ears for disarray
Cautiously seeking
The sources and extent of my pain
Softly speaking to me
Hearing my faltering words
With understanding
And not a trace of condemnation
Despite the vastness of my age
The distortion of my battered body
The unyielding uncertainty of my human existence
How merciful you are
Tender, compassionate, benign
A doctor true to her noble profession
I thank you with all my heart
No
Your hands are not cold as you suggest
They are considerate, understanding, humane
And black as the darkest night
How lucky I am
That our psyche has no colour
Neither black nor white

Evil Is As Evil Does

Ah yes
I hear your tirade against your political foes
Lies aplenty
Fake superlatives
Decrying the humanity and virtue of your rivals
Oh
How your followers
Swallow your tainted food
A repast for the brain dead mob of acolytes
Who wave banners
And proclaim collusion
For every ugly, sordid lie you utter
Look at you
Orchestrating the responses of your bewildered herd
Clapping your hands
In time with your orchestrated deceit
Moving your aged bulky body
To a rhythm of craftiness and guileful duplicity
In your fraudulent devil dance
That’s it then
Full speed ahead we must go
Along the road to deadly political ruination
A fake salvation for the nation
Amidst your crafty solicitous ovation
No no no
That president would be a god of the underworld
A Hades* of sorrow
A doom that must not loom tomorrow

*Hades, in ancient Greek religion was a god of the underworld

An Absolute Solution

I wonder why
Although
Misfortune dogs my daily life
Casts shadows although there is no sun
Chills my heart although there is no frost
Blows me away although there is no wind
I still find order in the disarray
Comfort in the cold
Shelter in the icy blast
Tranquility in the tempests of worldly anger
I ask myself
Why
When the world is rife with struggle
Torn apart by competitive outrage
Riven by political intrigue
Rent by racial prejudice
My mind still knows a restfulness
Kindness in another’s inconvenience
Alliance with my rivals
Understanding of activist causes
Compassion for alien strangers
Suddenly
I find the answer
A solution to this my gentle problem
A reason for my tranquility
My repose
My peace of mind
For amidst the bathos of existence
I have found someone who loves me

Olympic Victory

We lost
Vanished is our dream
All that training gone to waste
The glory that we sought
Lies smothered in the litter of failure
Our deeds
Now have but brief mention by the newsreader
Our sponsors
Now will seek greener pastures
Out coach
Now will suddenly find himself redundant
Our fans
Now will suddenly examine their loyalty
And what of us, the players?
What now is our destiny?
Aha!
A worthy question
Where do we the losers stand?
Note well this answer
We the vulnerable
In the face of a challenge
Have hoped to win but dared to lose
We the players
Are so different from sport’s other add-ons
When we win, we triumph
But even though we lose
We have been there in the arena daring greatly
Boldly in that place
Where timid souls never venture
So in defeat
That is in itself a victory

royciebaby

Liar Supremo

On a political icon in 2024

Listen to him
How diligently he works at deception!
Lies about law
Lies about his rivals
Lies about foreigners
Lies about his biblical insight
Lies about political achievement
And stunted thinkers alas have become his acolytes
O mercy!
What a dangerous man he is
How his words have deadly significance
How our future survival
Depends on success for his rival
And so the game goes on
Self interest the motif
Of this rogue
Who would seize power like a thief
So note this well
The crimes they are a-changing
Malpractice is the norm for his followers
Slanted legal outcomes now favour the villain
Absolute power for a monocrat is the aim
World shattering tyranny is poised above us
Ready to turn what we know and love
Into a morass of self interest for a winner
So think again you sad votaries of immorality
Choose another
Ere our Paradise becomes an Abaddon*

*This is a biblical reference to inter alia a pit or abyss of Hell

The Law Is An Ass

When law can do no right,
Let it be lawful that law can do no wrong:
Law cannot give my child his kingdom here,
For he that holds his kingdom holds the law.
King John, 3.1.189: Constance to Cardinal Pandulf

The law is an ass**
When there is no separation of the powers
Look at him
That asinine politician
Who fills the judiciary with puppets of his will
Look what he has done
Made justice a pretence
An imposture
A fraud
A counterfeit
A charlatan’s agenda
He’s looming now with deadly ambitious claws
Waiting to seize our way of life
Put it in his pocket
And rule us according to his own schemes
So Hitler lives again
Attila the Hun
Vlad the Impaler
Ivan the Terrible
And Joseph Stalin
All’s well that bends well according to a ploy
As freedom dies a tragic, painful death

**An expression said to be coined by Dickens in Oliver Twist.

Conscience

See that thinking soul
Acting in ways her conscience tells her to
Supporting the truth
And doing an unpopular damaging deed
For the sake of justice and integrity
What a burden it is
To do what’s right
In spite of punitive political norms
See too the punishment that falls upon her head
In response to her morality
Cast aside by her colleagues
Expelled by her leader
Pilloried by the sensational media
Ah yes
There is always trouble
For those who don’t comply
With the in mores of a given time
Such a deadly act
So reckless
So inappropriate it must be punished
So get thee to a nunnery***
Or place of similar ostracism
Says the captain of a ship
That sails only in an approved direction
Away with you
So you walk the plank of dissent
Into waves of despair
And sink deserted in your nonconformity

*** Hamlet’s words to Ophelia

Autocracy

A Contemporary Observation

Look at that!
Can Hitler be around still?
Or is it just his influence?
Do you remember his powerful exciting catch cry?
Make Germany great again!
How this seduced his pliable followers
Swept him into power
Not through democracy
Absolutism was his modus operandi
Destruction of opponents
All of them without tolerance or mercy
Political sway to one party
Obeisant judiciary
Acquiescent, controlled media
Allegiance to chosen foreign powers
Orchestrated, seductive oratory
Ah yes
How well savants remember!
How careful they are
How they fear repetition
All this happened to me the other day
I thought I saw a retelling
A recurrence of the ugly past
A savage duplication of a hunger for power
No
It cannot be
History enlightens
So this must have been a dream
Or was it a nightmare?

Plutocracy

Hey!
We can’t do that Charles
That mining magnate is so powerful
She’s a constant source of Party funds
We have to stay in her good books
Can’t afford animosity with the election coming up
It’s a crucial time
Yes
I know that storms, floods and fires
Are killing people
Rebuilding after destruction is costly
But I know votes are important
I know green ones are increasing
I know carbon has a bad name abroad
And increasingly here too
But we just have to hide the truth a bit
Pitch a story about saving the costs of power
That should get us through
Ensure our survival
Yes
I am aware of reality
In fact that is my motivation
Survival is the first principle in politics
So we must appear competent
Aware of practicality
As we make sure all her mines stay open
Don’t give me that bull shit Charlie
What in God’s name
Has the future done for us?

royciebaby

Monocracy In A Demonic Dystopia

Look at him
Obsessed with himself
Never wrong
And if he is punished for misdeeds
He declares an injustice
Blaming corruption as the cause of his inequity
Ah me!
Note how this narcissistic autocrat seeks power
Fosters fallacies
To make himself a hero
In the fairy tales he feverishly invents
He’s a master of lies
Cunningly focused to win popular support
A poseur par excellence
Seeking monocracy in a demonic dystopia
Ruled over by himself
He is effective too
This bland deceiver
Who courts followers with word and gesture
He claps himself and punches the air
Amidst a convenient declamatory crowd
Who wield ornate, florid, dramatic posters of hate
In harmony with the self-seeking disputes he creates
So successful is this beast who beguiles
That news bulletins tell his story constantly
Riotous screenshots of him stirring the doting mob
Endlessly fill the airwaves
Do you know this demon?
His name is so widely known
To all mortals save corpses in morgues
So you will not find that name here

Election

See how that despot cajoles the voters
In many cunning ways
Spreading his lies with unwavering flair
Posing as a victim of dreamed up villainy
Portraying the worthy as agents of evil
Deploring true justice as outrageous infamy
Threatening those who dare to find fault with him
Promising to pardon his criminal disciples
Bending many rules with fraudulent deception
Stealing the property of government authority
And displaying support for deadly rebellion
These wrongs he uses to serve his own ends
As the straight and narrow he cunningly bends
Watch him now carefully
Note well his words
As he gathers support
To set free jailbirds
So act his way then and cast your vote
Follow his lead
And wear his baleful many coloured coat*
Come along then in the hear and now
You captivated pawns
And take an obsequious bow
Let a dictator rule and control the world
Observe his cunning as he gets attention
By hugging that flag unfurled
Elect him now to end justice and democracy
Cultivate disaster and strife
In the form of this drone’s vile autocracy

*This is a biblical allusion. Joseph’s many coloured coat is a symbol of a number of things. One is that it is a sign of approval.

Racist Rogue

Look at you
Your words are fascistic
Your statements are nothing but xenophobic venom
Your turn of phrase breeds hate
Your vision is distorted by your political game-plan
Immigrants will poison our blood you say
O arrant fool!
Their face, their eyes, their skin may be different
But their blood is red, exactly like yours and mine
So I see through you now
You seek to profit by tapping into evil mores
You seek to exploit existing race-related repartee
You seek to ride the waves of prejudice
Thus you need to be exposed
What a tragic spectre you are
With your harnessed counterfeit fame
With what you say so unrelated to truth and justice
It’s unhindered power you seek
Unrestrained autonomy
Bestowed upon you
By the seduced followers who support you
To make you an approved oppressor
With the absolute power only a fascist can know
But heed this you vile would be oppressor
You darling of doom
You agent of anguish
You devil of deception
You torment of tragic woe
There is a voice abroad in the wind
It is only faint just now
But it comes from the children of reason
And will grow soon into a tempest of canonised truth

Cause And Effect

So
Those two university students
Have been expelled for publicly supporting Hamas**
In this our land
Where democracy and fair play are said to rule
That latest authoritarian deed
Bids farewell to freedom of speech
Of course
Terrorists must not be supported
But the solution to the problem
Lies clearly beyond mere condemnation of evil
Far more important
Is to cancel the effect by removing the cause
Why then
Do Islamist people rebel in Gaza?
The reason is a human tragedy that exists
An anguish
That would hold sway in any court of justice
So something has to be done
Palestinians are cursed in Gaza
Injustice brings death to a vast array of innocents
Heed me then you lords of academe
Work to end this deadly cause and notice the effect
Bring fair play to the ill-fated land in question
Let the innocents live
Strive to make human rights replace the tyranny
Then Hamas misdeeds
Will have no support from idealistic students

**Hamas, an acronym of its official name, Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya, is a Palestinian Sunni Islamist political and military movement governing the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip since 2007. Source Wikipedia.

A Surprise

Rohan was a good character and pious
That’s what his name suggests in Persian
He was a very kind person
Ready with a helping hand if he saw the need
And church was his domain most Sundays
He loved walking, especially in the very fresh air
Of the tourist haunt Katoomba where he lived
So it was not surprising
When he stumbled across a solitary dog
Whimpering on an isolated pathway
In those Blue Mountains
He decided to lend a helping hand
“Here boy,” he said “what’s the matter?”
The dog continued whining and groaning softly
Hung his head
And looked sadly up at the mentor
Who reached out with a gentle hand to pat him
“Now then,” he said “life can’t be that bad
“Come on now, up you get”
Sadly the kindness had little effect
The troubled creature remained distressed
Indeed
Began to cry out with a powerful howl
Followed by what can only be described as a wail
Much to the distress of his would be friend
So Rohan picked him up and held him to his breast
That was when it happened…
You see this dog belonged to old Charlie
Who was suddenly noticed
Lying unconscious on a ledge below the pathway
And soon to be rescued by Emergency Services

royciebaby

Unwanted Relic

To a former prime minister

Get you gone
You have had your day
Your time as a manipulator of voters
That era of deception
That epoch of enrichment for your friends
Is nothing now but an ugly memory
Yet you once more are being noticed
Again getting attention
With your book
Concerned with your synthetic display of piety
Published and launched
In the land of get rich quick moguls
Giving you unjustified attention
In the company of a big shot former leader
Like yourself
A flamboyant echo of the past
You use once more in your quest for significance
Ay, there’s the rub
That notable enchilada
Gives status to your faded persona
And you are photographed together
A study of pretence
With a neat little storyline
Promoting future preparations
For that wondrous money spinner known as war
Thus we have two fading icons for the price of one
Two self-admiring drones courting each other
From the market place disguised as democracy
That threatens so many things we need and value

Ready Aim Fire

The deadly demise of civilians
Especially women and children
Is a tragic outcome
That guilty leaders must own up to
And a full enquiry will be held they announce
It is one of the outcomes of war
Yes, they may indeed be right
But it takes two to fight
So the guilt of conflict is forever shared
By each belligerent
When innocence is shattered
Or battle-lines are drawn
Without an infinite quest for peace…
Should negotiations fail
And bloody conflict ensue
The death of innocents is wrong beyond redemption
So heed me you sabre-rattlers
From the military industrial complex
We know who you are
Your names are inscribed
On your bank financial statements
Your ethos
Is suggested by the death notices of your victims
Your destiny
Is revealed by the awareness of true history
Come forward then
Blow your trumpets and beat your drums
Hide your guilt
On triumphant peace settlements
And praise loudly
The exceptionalism of your ruthless nation

Kind Hearts Are Needed

For A Schoolmate

Dear kindhearted friend
I notice you are beset by venomous censure
For your love of peace
I’ve heard this too in my life
A savage condemnation of my refusal to support
Deliberate violence that harms people
No, that tears them apart with hate and animosity
Please be not troubled by unjust censure
For yours is a noble spirit
Your willingness to listen to the words of both sides
To struggle without anger or even hate
Amidst any argument
To favour resolution without guns
And generalised hatred of another culture
You will always defy the hostility
The condemnation
The counterfeit righteousness
That justifies uncaring, unfeeling, callous conflict…
War is such a deadly thing
A solution without a problem
A sadly first resort
For the military industrial complex
So dear friend
Let your back stay turned
On hostility, enmity and concocted vendettas
Stay sharing instead
The power of wisdom, truth and love
Then
Give your critics a smile
It will be more forceful
Than all the weapons in the universe

Guilt Ridden Tempests

Fifteen people killed in deadly storms
It’s happened again
More and more and more often
Amidst ghastly destruction
Yes this is the season
Of tempests beyond reason
Caused by a profiting few
Whose deadly agendas come true
Despite the pain of the many
Who are they you may sadly ask,
These ghastly shapers of Earth’s destruction?
I reply with pain in my soul
That profit ogres have played an ugly role
In my life and yours down too many years
To thrust me towards the edge of tears
Climate lies still make a false impression
A deadly use of economic regression
Skilful word play creates invalid trust
As entrepreneurs kindle their lust
Vested interests still pollute the sky
This the governing yes-men refuse to deny
So heed me now you moneyed schemers
As you turn into torments the dreams of dreamers
Coal is brimstone for a witch’s brew
Gas is the killer tragic soldiers once knew
Fracking has led to a vast shale gas boom
But nature deplores it with warnings of doom
Oil is the foil of corporate giants
While Benedict Arnolds deny the science
So it’s once more into the breach dear friends
We must fight for validity ere our future ends

The Last Rose Of Winter

Hello Charlie
Why are you looking so pitifully sad?
Old age you say
You can’t do today what you did yesterday
Walking is painful
Your back aches
And your eyes are losing their acuity
Most of your friends are in their graves
Your wife is dead too
Hmmm…yes I’m receiving you
What’s that?
You’re a sportsman gone to seed
Once famous at football and on television
No golf now either
Too old to carry the bag
Retired from the work force of course
No longer a bank official
I’m with you
Your poverty, a sad echo of earlier riches
I understand
Yes, no car
No driving licence
A virtual social outcast
But Charlie
Surely there is something to bring you joy
A ray of sunshine, tell me
Is there one thing to change your so sad days?
Aha! Bravo!
Yes that’s it, in your winter of sadness
You’ve come back to the world with your blog

royciebaby

Student Loans

Student loans are a folly
An imprudence close to lunacy
Because
Graduates are essential
To the survival
Of every society
It is a tragic misdeed
To impose financial punishment
On every student
For dreaming of betterment
For daring to meet the challenge
Of learning in a needy world
It is also alas
Part of the free enterprise syndrome
The open market
The balanced budget disorder
That intrudes into everyday modern life
O yes
What fools
Leaders thus infected are!
How stupid!
How dunce-like!
How simple-minded!
For every new academic
Provides inevitable return
For the investment in her or his learning
New taxes
New purchase of goods
And, heaven forbid,
The occasional new discovery
That will enhance society forever

War Guilt

Killing innocent fellow humans
In warfare
Is never justified
There is no valid reason for any war
So
Ignore cunning combat discourse
Or even victory celebrations
Often a false narrative underlies the belligerence
Convenient crimes are attributed to the chosen foe
Lies so often follow to seal the deal
Then
Every command delivered with rage
Is a tragic example of poisonous guilt
So often linked to deadly ambiguity
With reasons given so rarely the only choice
And each time there is the beat of drums
The Gaza conflict
Is a cataclysmic event in my lifetime
The carnage and desolation chill my bones
That ill-starred land
Has become a lunar landscape
Fellow humans have nothing but stark wreckage
And tears
And cries of pain
And hunger that endlessly grows
There is no reason
Valid for such a situation
No excuse for the infinite suffering
The spiritual despair of so many innocents
So count me in you obsessed men-at-arms
I share the pain of the victims of your tragic deeds

News

Well now, here is the news
I wonder what has happened today
Is there another
Pedestrian in critical condition when hit by a car?
Knife assault at a shopping centre?
Woman murdered by her former lover?
Teenager drowned when swept from rocks?
Elderly victim of a flood?
Court case concerned with rape?
Car crash with four deceased?
Neighbour accused of hate crimes?
Father tried for killing his three sons?
Multiple homicide by cooking toadstools?
Police officers shot dead by terrorists?
Australians murdered in Mexico?
Mass drowning in rain and flood in Brazil?
What’s that you say?
No such headlines today?
Well then, that’s it
Such is life
So what is the news?
What events can you share with us?
Well
They have found a remedy for liver cancer
And
Global warming
And
Depression
And
For dementia
O my!
How boring!

Endings

Long
Have I wandered down the streets of life
My tattered old body
With its pacemaker heart
And aching limbs
Cries out in pain now when I walk
Time is not my enemy though
But my adjudicator
Telling me with a firm voice
That even kings traverse a road
That has a dead end
There’s a terminal destination for everyone
Yes
I can feel that in my aching bones
An ultimate prophesy
But my crumbling brain still keeps enumerating
All my struggles
All my soul-destroying failures
All my pathetic unfulfilled dreams
Yet here I am
Still breathing
Still beset by life’s problems
Still struggling determinedly to be wise
And
Still afflicted with my own infinite inadequacies
That is why
I now tell all who know me
Not to fret
On my final day
As then all the hue and cry
Will fade away like mists in the morning

Perchance To Dream

Dreamers have a place in the world
They are not obeisant to outdated customs
Traditions or practices
They see beyond the pall of conformity
And catch a glimpse of the far side
Of Gödel’s circle of entropy*
So many times
During mankind’s storyline
Someone has a dream of stepping outside
Our world of normality
So man has flown
So we hear a voice from the antipodes
So Armstrong has strolled defiantly on the moon
It is so easy to stay within worn out convention
To eat your food from McDonald’s or Hungry Jack’s
To watch a TV tragedy that sells you underwear
To delve into your shock jock’s mind for awareness
But waiting for you
If you care to look, is a fresh vision of a better world
A way of seeing things differently
In a new light
So your understanding startles you
Therefore listen to new versions of things
Occasionally
Give the innovator a chance to be right
And sometimes
I repeat sometimes
You will travel to an undreamed of destination

*Gödel’s incompleteness theorem suggests we all have a circle of awareness beyond which we falter.

royciebaby

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

A Funereal Address

Much have I wandered
In the world of the living
Time is hardly a problem
There
For I am still alive at ninety
Yet pain ensues
As I was cast aside
To writhe in my own company
Memories are empty things
To those who leave me alone
Many long years of togetherness
Dissolve
Like allergy medication tablets in water
As I sigh
Softly in despair
And advise myself
That all bad and sad things pass
So there I am
Alone with my thoughts
Aware of everything
At peace with nothing
Until I realise
That mortality
Is common to us all
And that final extinction
Will come to me almost as a friend
So rejoice for me then folks
On an end to all the suffering
A last touch of change
That will draw to a close the pain
Undyingly

Common Destiny

That’s it then
I am cast aside
Like an empty cigarette packet
In a flooded gutter
That’s how I feel now
Swept to God knows where
By the sludge of life
I know I have failed so many times
To act with noble decorum
Or up to the minute awareness
But I have tried
Flawed as I was, I did my best
It was not good enough
So this failure
Has turned me
Into an empty unwelcome vessel
Alone
Tattered with age
Weak
Pitiful
Sorrowful
In the slough of despond
Battered
Longing for more company
But wait
Aha!
Yes, peace beckons,
Some time soon as part of the mortal crowd
I shall with dignity leave all this behind me
Forever

The Way Of Things

Well
That is the way of things
Time creeps up on you
Slyly
Suddenly
You realise
That your days are numbered
Your journey down many streets
Is about to end
Ninety years is more than most have
It’s a time of memories
If your brain is still working
All those friends no longer with you
Still comfort you
Metaphorically
Those enemies
Who no longer threaten you
Tap you on the shoulder
Metaphorically
And you find there is no one there
The few you have loved
Now that is the hardest loss
For they gave you a raison d’être
Made you see a world
Sans hostility
And helped you believe
You could do things well
Be glad when the sun rises
And not sad when it sets
All gone now
Time relentlessly wins
That is the way of things

A Call To Harms

Hey!
Where are you?
Can’t you see you’re needed?
You are so filled with your own importance
You’re away on your own business
Leaving me aged ninety
In harms way
With all my follies
My self pity
My longings
My narcissism
My desperate isolation
My lingering dreams still of a better life
All this is my reward
For my past interest in your destiny
My enduring friendship
Down all those years
Can’t you see what’s happening to me?
How my circumstances crush me?
How loneliness contaminates my life?
How I’m faltering in a world I’m soon to leave?
So where are you?
Come to me please
Give me your company
Your awareness of my needs
Your attention to my humour
Your worldliness that transcends my stupidity
So that in my brief remaining time
We can share laughter again
To dim the pain
So I can remain
In refreshing respite in your company

Consequence

I have
Always been
A bit of a dreamer
Filled with hope
When the going gets tough
It’s a funny thing that
Old age is the time of dreams
But the trouble is
Then they rarely seem to come true
Take me for instance
I’m ninety
Walking is painful
Confined to indoors
Apart from my loving wife
My only company is TV and YouTube
So
When Esther is asleep or away
I actually get lonely
That’s when the trouble starts
Not an ideal situation
And yet
You have plenty of time
To write poems
So hey there, all you friends
Who’ve discarded me lately
Left me to stew in my own juice
For such a long time
Caused my distress
Agony might be a better way of putting it
It serves you right
Your perfect punishment is this poem

royciebaby

Asylum

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free


The wretched refuse of your teeming shore


Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me

From “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus 1883

On the Statue Of Liberty

To imprison asylum seekers
Is a crime masquerading as necessity
Indefinite detention will make future historians wonder
Why racism flourished in our time
Habeas Corpus is a sacred concept
That must never be denied
People smugglers
Must never be a reason for endless imprisonment
Sanctuary and loving care
Must never be denied poor lost fellow humans
Shame! Shame! Shame
The Australian way with refugees is wrong
Is a disgrace
A disrepute
An infamy
A stain
That will forever remain
A dark and tragic flaw in our reputation
That cannot be undone by mere words
So stay silent all you excuse makers
You wrongful accusers of innocents
There is no queue that is jumped
There is no crime in boat travel for salvation
There is no justice if that for ever confines you
Now it’s time for a sea change
Set them free
Welcome them as part of our human family
Enjoy the transports of delight that compassion brings

No Problem

Cancer deaths are increasing
No problem
Buy atomic submarines
Many homes are burnt by wildfire
No problem
Buy atomic submarines
Half the poor are illiterate
No problem
Buy atomic submarines
Hospitals are short of beds, doctors and nurses
No problem
Buy atomic submarines
There’s a drastic shortage of houses
No problem
Buy atomic submarines
One in ten people in the world is poor
No problem
Buy atomic submarines
One in ten people in the world faces chronic hunger
No problem
Buy atomic submarines
One in four people has a decrepit home
No problem
Buy atomic submarines
500 species have vanished in the last hundred years
No problem
Buy atomic submarines
Outdoor air pollution has risen immensely since 1990
No problem
Buy atomic submarines
Chronic illness with obesity and diabetes is now common
No problem
Buy atomic submarines
That coercive industrialist fears losing corporate profit
No problem
Buy atomic submarines

The Forsaken Archetype

Hey there!
Oh no!
Heavens above!
Just look at what that would be leader
Plans to do with our society
Sack everyone who disagrees with him
Emasculate the legal system to save his guilty self
Deport all immigrants
Hit imported items with excessive tariffs
Deny women their right to control their own destiny
Foster oil and gas and coal to “drill baby drill”
Ban Muslims
Scrutinise federal employees with a new civil service test
Spurn and reject support for LGBTQ
Abolish teacher tenure
Terminate the Department of Education
Use the National Guard to prevent city violence
And take over the “dirty, crime-ridden” capital
That’s it then
A new era is looming
A vast change may soon be thrust upon us
A new kind of citizen, an archetype, now appears
He is white, obedient
A Christian who reads the chosen Bible
Hates foreigners
Denies climate change
Wears regalia in praise of the leader
And proclaims his membership of a master race
Look around you then
You will notice him because he is a flamboyant figure
Poised motionless now
At the gates of our earthly kingdom but yet afraid to enter
Now that’s funny
He is standing there not moving and suddenly silent
Is there a reason for this hesitation; yes I think there is
His brainwashing leader lost the election – again

Plausible Deniability

O My!
That seems so incriminating
Permission to build overwhelming tower monstrosities
That mutilate the landscape
Surround the city
And destroy forever a golden array of historic buildings
Just look at them
Rising ever skywards to do away with the sun
Why in heaven’s name was that approved?
What is the reason for that excrescence?
Who brought it about?
Now now, stay calm
Due process was followed with this massive project
Recognised procedures were followed
Endorsed by council meetings
With investigations by a committee
Confirmed by recognised distinguished experts
Due process was applied at the appropriate time
Owners of demolished houses were compensated
Traffic diversion was kept to a minimum
The new facilities were advertised
The project was blessed by media back up
Including praise of the new lifestyle
And public display of plans
Reinforced by advertisements praising the new lodgings
O and yes, by pecuniary support from the developer
Who did so much to launch the program

Id

Listen to him
Praising himself incessantly
Claiming everything he does is wonderful
Unmatched
Never before seen in the history of the land
Everyone who opposes him is wrong
Stupid
Evil
And note well this
His opponents
Are ruining the nation
Costly because of their incompetence
Imposing hardships on all
By ignoring his wondrous plans
That would bring comfort and joy never before seen
His critics are fools
Clumsy schemers
Dedicated to disastrous change
There he goes
Look at him
Responding to interviews
With sharp anger when criticised
And fairy stories about untrue achievement
Whenever the chance arises
Is this man brilliant as he claims to be?
No
Are his achievements great as he says?
No
Are his actions good for the nation?
No
Is this man an out of control narcissist?
Yes
Is his id a damaged source of all psychic energy?
Yes
Therefore beware
When the vital, decisive time comes
Do not, for any reason, vote him into power

royciebaby