Saffie

Saffie

A well meaning poem

Read out loud

Recited with feeling

To the gathered crowd

May bring comfort

For a short while

And conjure up the image

Of your smile

But after all

It’s just words

And it goes nowhere

Rising like vapour

Dispersed in thin air

Like a statement a minister’s

Bound to prepare

Like a mother’s cry met

With a tearful stare

Indeed, like this piece

I’ve written for you

(Though I tried my hardest

To make it true)

It won’t stop the flow

Of endless tears shed

Nor alter the path

Of the easily led

If I could gather up the bad

Make it all good

Then hand it back

(Like a caring God should)

Drag you away

From where the beast stood

And bring you home safe

Believe me

I would

Champagne Socialists

Champagne Socialists

A Champagne cork flies across the room,

Hits a picture of Tony Benn;

Flutes overflowing with Dom Perignon

Are raised by ladies and gentlemen.

“Let’s drink a toast to good old Tone”

Is met by a joyous retort, “Hear, hear!”

Glasses charged, discussion begins;

Part two of “The road to Wigan Pier”.

“’Sandal wearing fruit juice drinkers’

Why did he say that? please explain;

The account of the mines was grand indeed,

But part two I shan’t be reading again.

Far too subjective and scathing for me,

And I heard he was of bourgeois employ;

When all’s said and done, he’s a hypocrite too;

After all, wasn’t he an old Eton boy?”

Another stands up and raises his glass

Of fruit juice, (for Champagne is not his thing);

In the background an anthem; “The red flag” plays;

He nods in approval and starts to sing.

Singing and tapping his sandal clad feet,

He pauses, and once more raises his glass;

“Ladies and gents, I propose a toast

To the party’s success and the working class”

“I’ll drink to that” another pipes in

But the bottle is empty, the Champagne’s gone

A vote is taken, agreement is reached;

“Pop another magnum of Dom Perignon” ….

Carry on voting Tory (a song)

Carry on Voting Tory

If you want to see the back of the N.H.S

Carry on voting Tory

If you want it to be funded less and less

Carry on voting Tory

If you don’t give a fuck about mental health

If your prime concern is a billionaire’s wealth

If you want to see nurses get less pay

Than someone selling fries in a takeaway

If you trust Truss more than the BMA

Carry on voting Tory

If you want to see less police on the beat

Carry on voting Tory

If you want more burglaries in your street

Carry on voting Tory

If you want drug dealers in the park

If you don’t want to venture out after dark

If you want more knives and violence in town

If you want your kids mugged by a drunken clown

If you want to see your local nick close down

Carry on voting Tory

If you want to cut schooling for the poor

Carry on voting Tory

If you want to see classes of forty or more

Carry on voting Tory

If you want to see pupils in grammar schools

Looking down on other kids as secondary fools

If you want to see those of a very young age

Getting judged and rejected at primary stage

If that concept doesn’t rattle your cage

Carry on voting Tory

If you want workers’ rights to be null and void

Carry on voting Tory

If you think all unions should be destroyed

Carry on voting Tory

If you’re happy for people to be enslaved

As the boss gets greedier and more depraved

If you want to go to work and still be poor

If you want to use food banks more and more

Cos you can’t afford to shop at the grocery store

Carry on voting Tory

If you want to see foxes hunted again

Carry on voting Tory

If you want to hear them scream in pain

Carry on voting Tory

If you want village residents to be defied

If you want to see fracking in the countryside

If you want green activists locked away

And climate-change scientists to have no say

If you’d rather hear Jacob Rees-Mogg all day

Carry on voting Tory