Saturday 25 June 2016

Egoland



Egoland

Come quick! Look and see!
There in the street,
The Ego has landed,
And how wonderful he looks!
Important and proud
And ever so splendid.

He grows bigger and bigger,
Round and transparent;
A bubble of aspiration,
And people, inspired,
Watch in anticipation
And envious admiration.

This is your land,
And yours alone!
He proclaims with certainty;
I rename it EGOLAND!
And it shall be so
For all eternity.

There is a flash!
And then he explodes;
Fragments lying about,
Are greedily consumed,
And bellies are filled
With malice and doubt.

Friday 10 June 2016

A question


A question

If you were a German in ‘33
Living in Nazi Germany
I wonder
What would your actions be?

Would you be brainwashed by Goebbels’ lies
Think Jews no better than rats or flies
And Hitler
The wisest of the wise?

Would you, if the Fuhrer told you to
Be glad to burn books of a non – Nazi view
Especially if
They were written by a Jew?

Would you, being told again and again
Believe that Versailles was unfair – insane
And the Jew
Was the cause of ALL your pain?

Would you, like a Nazi, easily led
Smash Synagogue windows if Goebbels said
That a Jew
Fired a gun, and vom Rath was dead?

Would you, a citizen in the Nazi state
Find it easy to ignore, easy to hate
Would you act with indifference
To a Jewish child’s fate?

Would you, if you saw someone you knew
In defiance of the law, helping a Jew
Secretly inform
Like you were told to?

If you were a German in ‘33
Living in Nazi Germany
I wonder,
Would you act any differently?











  

Thursday 9 June 2016

Limerick




The politics of compassion

If you want to make this country great
Re – examine the things that you hate
With compassion in mind
Be thoughtful be kind
Turn argument into debate