If the sky was green would the trees feel blue?
If all hearts were sincere, what we say would be true
….
If nature was kinder, there would be fewer storms
If politicians cared more, they would bring about reforms
….
If hate speech was outlawed, there’d be no demagogues
If humans were nicer, we wouldn’t need dogs
….
If the world was perfect, it would be prejudice free
If that is to happen, it’s down to you and me.
Kicking a worn-out ball around the streets
The lucky ones did the same in a park
It was something to do with your mates
Better that having a lark
….
Jumpers or coats for the goal posts
Boots were your ordinary shoes
A ‘strip’ was out of the question
The oldest had the right to ‘choose’
….
The’ game’ itself had no special aura
Except the playing, and those you played with
This was the stuff of friendships
Building bonds, being collaborative
….
Then school taught the art of competition
Sides became teams and you needed to win
The result was what now mattered
The captain became the team kingpin
….
Commercialism entered the equation
The best could win money and fame
These became goals in themselves
The green-eyed god had its claws on the game
….
Fast cars, loose women, high living
Dreams of the working classes
A career for the few with real promise
Aspired to with rose tinted glasses
Oak for the timbers, rudder, keel and mast
Granite from Cornwall for the hold’s ballast
Jute for the ropes, when the mate shouts avast
Iron for chains and anchor once the die is cast
….
Canvas for the sails to push us on our way
Ship’s bell to signal watches and the hours of the day
Grog for the crew, just part of the pay
Tackle to be tightened on the aft mainstay
….
Barrels for the water, grog and other stores
Canon to fight pirates and enemies in wars
Telescope to find important distant shores
Gangplanks for the quayside, doubloons for the whores
….
Pressganged and willing, hardy men and true
Captain, mate and bosun, the rest of the crew
Cutlass, sword and dagger, all could run you through
Men scouring the seven seas, but not for the view
Racism is treating people as ‘others’
The opposite of acting like brothers
We are not designed to be the same
Whatever we are, we are not to blame
….
Is it part of the human condition
To want to establish our position
In some imaginary pecking order
‘Us’ versus ‘them’ from a historic border
….
It seems we have an inner need
Looking down on some other creed
To feel a bit better about our lot
Rejecting notions of a mixing pot
….
But assimilation is nature’s way
Differences, ultimately, become passé
Though bigotry and injustice may cause delay
All will be free to be who they are, one day
….
Until then, use well the power to vote
Campaign peacefully, equality promote
Practise humanity, value all life
Have empathy, turn your back on strife
Lying, as if in sleep, though clearly not
Wondering how many out there share this lot
On the backs of eyelids, projected scenes
Greyscale phantoms on vein-mottled screens
….
Shapes shift and drift in random flight
As clouds might in the dead of night
Ghosts with metamorphic swirl
Form in slow motion, then unfurl
….
Dawn waits to cast its calming rays
On another of many similar days
That end the same, as sleep I feign
Unable to halt imagination’s reign
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