How Tragic Is That (Revised) Poem by Margaret Alice Second

Power groups using civilians as pawns in a grand
game of chess, Mel Gibson's Scots in Braveheart,
Leon Uris' Arabs in The Haj - and African leaders
imitate them to great effect

Libyan refugees victimised in the game between
Gadaffi and the West, and equally Africa's leaders
use their people for blackmail; responsibility and
logical consequences unknown concepts

With such an attitude Africa is doomed; it is only
when people take their fate into their own hands
they achieve success - work ethic and expertise
can save the continent, replacing proliferating

numbers of ignorant people, thirteen babies per
woman who cannot learn anything while simply
surviving, the unskilled manipulated like slaves
by their unconscionable Heads of State

Who sacrifice their own subjects for their own
political causes, demanding the West provide
the advantages denied by poverty, then using
help offered to enrich themselves

How tragic is that…