Babylon - Pride Before Fall Poem by Jonathan ROBIN

Unwillng, 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.
The scales of Pride and Prejudice few weigh
until grim reaper cuts all hope from stay
prolonged protecting vested interests, way
too biased to chance dance life's cabaret.

Survival of the fittest now gives way
to survival of the fattest, curds and whey,
while those who seek asylum have to pay
for basic rights, obtain no legal stay
of judgement before expulsion and, bouquet,
to cap it all fall into trap, dismay,
when base manipulation will convey
pride, prejudice as order of the day.

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,
fourteen billion hungryhands despise delay,
traditions, preconceptions, waste away,
wither, whither steals hope held at bay.
Cruel paradox: man's caravanserai
saves those who formerly as potter's clay
would crack, presumed too helpless. Right of way
for those with special needs feeds no in-tray.

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 from twisted chromosome
as genes Monsanto seeds, blastocytome
compound endemic 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 found from Omsk to Baffin Bay,
clock ticks, for climate change will not not obey
wishful thinking crass communiqués
from gospel politicians’ sermon tray.
Ice melts, tornadoes twist, and an array
of plagues, corrupted pirats do away
with balance mind, kind weakness find, display
self-centeredness sustaining power-play.

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 that has lost its way.