What a green and pleasant land!
This lion's isle of happy folk
I smile and laugh along the sand
Yet fail to recognise the joke
...
Powerful and how profound
Flying high through golden air
Till in shadow I was drowned
Powerless in my despair
...
Bali-based British writer, flawed mammal and cautionary tale. Made of stardust. Author of five books and numerous poems, short stories and flash fictions.2016 Southern Pacific Review short story award winner; Amazon alternate history bestseller's list #1 (May 2014; September 2014) .)
Land Of Poverty
What a green and pleasant land!
This lion's isle of happy folk
I smile and laugh along the sand
Yet fail to recognise the joke
Sunlit palms and grass and water
Yet neurotic is the feel
Stretching to the sky, a jungle
Made of concrete, glass and steel
Is this a land of plenty then
Where smiles don't seem to reach the eyes?
Neurosis has a quiet reign
And naked truth is clothed in lies
Choking on unwholesome rage
All the world's a callous stage
I am slowly drowning there
Powerless in my despair
Eternal love in bounding heart
Infernal words to lightly throw
Joy and passion come apart
Like tears in rain or melting snow
.
Extinguishing a quiet flame
Light is lost to robbery
Awash with money, rich in name
This is a land of poverty
The blazing sun is hellish there
Infernal heat is everywhere
Demons relish your despair
It is eternal winter there
It is eternal winter here
Its swirling spectres bother me
Compounding all my faults and fears
This is a land of poverty
It matters not the cost or price
It matters not the quantity
When misery is plenty's price
It is a land of poverty.