Gross domestic product

The politics of platitude
         with which they would smother us
that this is a great country
         the fifth largest economy in the world
but that the poor must be chased
         into the ground / the disabled hounded
the weak trodden further down
         so many thousand more children
being raised in poverty
         evictions and homelessness on the rise
thorns trimmed from the rose
         before it is sold into slavery

Read back in time : a king is a thing
          What drove Ophelia to distraction
was utter madness
         the parameters are all wrong
the indices askew and beside the point
          Something rotten on the streets of London
prejudice and intolerance and greed
          We have a duty to care so that the child
may be protected and prosper
         so that the elderly may be treated
with dignity and respect
         so that a hand may be extended
to those who suffer persecution

These are indeed austere times
         in which the public discourse
has been hijacked by the corrupt
         pilferers of the commonwealth
Money buys a very big lie
         trumping the truth at every turn
: a king is a thing is the thing
         and enough is enough is enough

John Lyons