866 - A Crying Shame

Sunday Whirl (Wordle #249) presents a list of words

that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are:

grace, join, yearning, silken, any, fire,

eggs, moment, skin, cell, light, boundless

A Crying Shame

First they came for the Socialists, 

and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, 

and I did not speak out— 

Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, 

and I did not speak out— 

Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—

and there was no one left to speak for me.

- Martin Niemöller

Verse Two,

Lines five and six,

Of our National Anthem reads:

“For those who've come across the seas

We've boundless plains to share”

And come they do,

Yearning a new and safer life,

Any life really,

After we, 

And our mighty military,

Have rained fire,

Mayhem,

Death and misery,

Upon them in their homes.

Delivering moments of terror

And lifetimes of trauma

Through the machinery of greed,

Thinly disguised

Beneath a skin of righteousness.

But our silken leader

Tells us not to be “misty eyed’;

Code for “toughen up”,

Code for “they are not really people”

Graceless and lightweight,

He beats on an empty chest.

How long, I wonder,

Before those who point 

At our national disgrace

Are politely but firmly 

Invited to join the others

In a distant island cell?

As eggs precede chickens 

And chickens precede eggs,

It is the next logical step.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2016

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