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Babylon
Unwilling, weak, we witness our last lay.
Wars waged by gartered knights in armour gay
against souls sinful sunk ‘neath Satan’s sway,
belong, like so much else to yesterday.
Fine fanfares for fair faithful fighting fray
to global warming cede the stage today
as instant information access may
sway opinions, on our conscience weigh.
Once ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ upon square world were known
in black and white ere printer first bound tome,
when Peter’s pope prayed, powerless, in Rome,
while pinhead angels played before His throne.
Hexagonal seemed cells in honeycomb,
top-down, fixed, feudal, God, King, hearth and home,
now times a’changing ‘neath night’s starry dome,
pomp’s pump prepares no rainbow polychrome
to bridge ridge earthquake cracks West’s playboy bray
must meet as Nature with a vengeance may
role reverse self-righteous roundelay,
dissolve pride’s ride, philosophies passé.
Brash West feasts c[r]ash upon a foreign fast day –
twelve billion hungry hands brook no delay -
traditions, preconceptions, waste away,
wither, whither steals hope held at bay?
The hills and dales our ancestors would roam
are now farmed out, exploited, while we comb
dark ocean deeps for oil, enriching gnome,
see, helpless, arid step[pe]s dust fertile loam
turned desert, naught replacing timber’d holm,
while cancer flows to twisted chromosome
from genes Monsanto seeds, blastocytome
compounding man-made crises as we stroam.
A few, while sun still shines, greed-filled, make hay
at the expense of most, who day-to-day
and hand-to-mouth must strive, unwilling prey
of those enjoying Babylon’s payday.
Unfeeling Man reels deathwards through decay,
fires fossil fuels compounding carbon spray,
polluting lungs – soon, hung, we’ll surely sway.
Ice-melt sea levels rise ‘gainst background grey.
Fresh fault-lines are identified at Baffin Bay,
clock ticks, for climate change will not not obey
wishful thinking crass communiqués
from gospel politicians’ sermon tray.
Wounded world seeks vengeance as astray
strays sanity, while waywards some portray
dichotomies between dreams’ s[c]ent bouquet
and instability dire facts betray.
Tsunamis tidal swamp towns, drown today
earthquakes pride deride as faraway
too close for comfort has become, will weigh
on global village which has lost its way.
11 November 1975 rewritten 19 April 2008, revised and significantly expanded 26 May 2008 – see below for previous version
Babylon
Unwilling, weak, we witness our last lay.
Fine fanfare for the Faith to fight the fray,
wars waged by gartered knights in armour gay,
against the sinful sunk ‘neath Satan’s sway,
belong, like so much else, to yesterday.
Then ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ on our square world were known
in black and white ere printer first bound tome:
when Peter’s pope prayed, powerless, in Rome,
and pinhead angels played before His throne.
But now we feast upon a foreign fast day –
six billion hungry hands brook no delay!
While Western ways wilt, wither, waste away,
in burning Babylon, balked, held at bay,
we stagger on towards death, through decay...
11 November 1975
Jonathan ROBIN
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