Poetry 2

The Revolutionist

“We fear not their law, nor yet their great men;

We fear not their prisons or blood-gallows pen;

We fear nor their priests, or parsons, or their spies;

We fear not their land away up in the skies.

We laugh at their army, and navy, and king;

We laugh at the god to whom these thieves sing.

We laugh, and in earnest we strive for the day

We wipe out the tyrants who do our class slay.”

Tom Anderson

The Jolly Beggars

(An excerpt)

A fig for those by law protected,

Liberty’s a glorious feast!

Courts for cowards were erected

Churches built to please the priest!

Robert Burns

In Time of War

"In time of war

I side with the villages

with the mosques

in this war

I side with the Shiite family

with Sour (Tyre)

with the mother

with the grandfather

with the eight kids in the mini van

with the white silken headscarf".

In the name of the beautiful books I read

in the name of the kisses I kissed

May the army be defeated

Aharon Shabtai

The Revolution of Everyday Life

The Revolution of Everyday Life

shall begin with everyone sleeping in…

Only when man and woman

have slept in unexpectedly

shall they truly experience

a momentary glimpse of life

outside of Spectacular Society

O Lament!

The Petty Squabbles of Neighbours Rights!

The Fiasco of Private Parking in Busy Streets!

The Council's Permission for building extensions!

The Taxation of Absolute Resources!

O Sing to the possibility!

The Garden Lawns of Absolute Community

The Garden Furniture of Parochial Civility

The Pure Governance of Garages and Sheds!

The Hedge and sheers natural reality!

After all this has been considered…

we shall meet on the Barricades

after brushing our teeth hurriedly…

rushing past as the local police officer

reminds you:

'Wrong era, Sir…

must have been a simulation…

nostalgia from an old film…

memories of something better…

of something not yet seen…

a myth of gossip…

it happens to all of us…

Good day'

Colin McGuire

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