Party Decoration Poem by Richard Trembath

When do we cut the ribbons which connect us,
cease the pretence
of wishing to be the pillars of society,
respected,
looked upon as ‘proper’ by our peers
- ‘the way we should be’?

When do we let go,
release our grip
on what we’re taught are principles,
and they their grip on us?

Is it too late for our return
to basic instincts,
those which lie in wait
but shrouded
by ‘the done and proper thing’ -

Man’s pomp and babble –
cluttered now by overgrowth,
a tightly woven net
from which escape
becomes progressively less possible?

What holds us from our instincts –
lust, survival, will to live?
from blood and water,
warmth
and basic love?

When will we cease to care
what other people think
and live our lives not by indoctrination,
but rather
by what instinct taught us
as we left the womb?

And when will we discard
the ‘window dressing’,
that which makes us what we are
(or have become)
and robs us yet of what we truly are.

Courage, my friends,
and focus!
The world is so enamoured
of the illusion it creates
it can no longer recognise the truth
behind society’s façade.
Ashes, dust,
flesh, blood and lust
- these alone are real.

The rest is fluff.
Inherited tradition.

Party decoration.