21st Century

With chemical attacks and then, just like that
Without checking the facts
The world’s hegemon attacks.
One side says this, the other says that,
The whole thing becomes a futile tit for tat.
And none of them care about a genuine peace,
All of them caught up in a military feast.
Meanwhile we sleep, we work, we eat,
Our routine continues to the same beat.
Whilst chaos ensues around the globe,
We rely on the powerful and what we get told,
Just consume the narrative, eat whatever we’re fed,
Doesn’t matter how many end up dead,
Because some lives matter more thanks to the lottery of birth,
That ensured we were born on this side of the earth.

Switch it all off, turn away, close your eyes,
Sometimes it feels it’s the only way to survive.
How tragic it is that we choose blissful ignorance,
Even when faced with a fascist’s belligerence.
Mother of all bombs, it came and went,
No one cares of where it landed, only from where it was sent.
No one cares who died – we’re told they were Isis,
That way we could strike with unlimited license.
Never mind who else might have been affected,
Never mind the innocent who might have been subjected,
To terror from the skies, nothing we can imagine,
Fearing for their lives, still our own compassion
Is non-existent, or fleeting at best,
Too busy being privileged to care for the rest.

That’s why in the 21st century when I’m meant to feel empowered,
Technology, social media, news alerts by the hour,
I’m living in a ‘democracy’, this is meant to be progress,
But I’m just sitting here, feeling so hopeless.
(April 2017)