Thus I Wrote

One to the east
And one to the west
The world spins
On some new quest
Things fall apart
The centre can’t hold

America is lost
Broken in two
Republican selfishness
Breaking anew
Things fall apart
The centre can’t hold

China arises
From its slumber
Values are questionable
But can’t ignore numbers
Things fall apart
The centre can’t hold

Europe straining
Between two poles
Holding centre values
Taking its toll
Things fall apart
The centre can’t hold

Britain a wrecking ball
Breaking away
A barking dog following
Republican America
Things fall apart
The centre can’t hold

100 years ago
Similar words were said
As wars ravaged
And many were dead
Are we turning into
New conflicts to behold
Things fall apart
The centre can’t hold

There appears to be
No clear right or wrong
There is weak
& there is strong

There appears to be
No agreed perspective
Only effective
And ineffective

Some use the law
Or some wise insight
Some have to break things
To relearn it’s not right

And so boundaries
Are pushed on until
Another pushes back
With strength and will

And so lessons are learned
An agreed perspective
Over what is effective
And ineffective

How did you justify
Stealing and killing
From those who own
But are unwilling?

You used religion
And science to say
They are below you
In made up ways

And now you use arrogance
And discrimination
To control equals or betters
Even in the same nation

Jokes are used
Hurtfully…
To hide behind
Insidiously…

And statues are used
To glorify the pillage
They poison the nation
& weaken it with spillage

The spawn of public schools
Like Eton & Harrow
Brutal and shameless
Monsters of sorrow

But inherited wealth
Can’t be repeated
Change must come, cos
The future can’t be cheated

The past can hold back
Or help evolve to find
New ways that include
New ties that bind

I wonder what it means
Day after day
What I do now
Day after day

I’ve no real plan
Step after step
Moving forward
Step after step

Slowly a form arises
From the steps
The mist of meaning
From the steps

Like you I serve
My selfish needs
But our different values
Sow different seeds

Is climate change
Valued by you?
Or is it too long term
Too indirect for you?

Is a short term fix
More what you choose?
A zero sum game
You win…we lose

Different values
Could serve for good
But the future looks darker
Maybe more than it should

Now I’m grateful when
On the road I find
Those who are giving
Those who are kind

There’s a fall
In democracy
There’s a rise
In autocracy
I look to the future
But it’s closed to me

We’ve grown
To 8 Billion strong
Doubled in 50 years
That’s not long
I grew in that time
But I’m only one

Relatively it’s been
A season of creation
A spring after winter
Such co-operation
But this can change
Winter lurks in rotation

Like islands
On a vast ocean
I found them
After the work between

Why was I limited
To islands so small
On an ocean so large
After the work between

Can I accept a part
In this play
Yet play it well
Each & every day

I see others struggle
Struggle for love
Struggle for money
But it’s never enough

Yet in their struggle
Is their meaning
Their distraction
From their ending

The more I know
The more I’m apart
The distance between
The head and the heart.

I see it in the distance
Under the falling sun
I’ve food and I’ve water
And a little black gun

I hear laughter and noise
In the valley below
They push to make
Some shape I don’t know

I walk in the twilight
Sometimes I run
I can’t change much
To stop the sun

I look for humility
In this scene
My actions build
My art to be seen

I was an adolescent once
A time of transition
Of great learning
Of experimentation
Of new experiences

I was an adolescent once
I found romance
And new beginnings
I created something
That became my life

Career & relationships
Children and marriages
Houses and parties
Family and friends
Growth and change

Now another transition
Again everything is new
More baggage now
Create meaning & joy
Create a new life.