Steer Clear

Steer-Clear (For Lola)

When I was younger, around middle age,

I entered a kind of spiritual stage,

Perused The New Testament, every page,

Considered the Christian position,

Thumbed the Quran, read many a surah,

Skimmed through the Gita, mulled over Buddha,

Tried meditation, struggled with yoga,

Lost interest, gave up on religion;

And dwelled in the hellscape of rants and rhymes,

Mostly concerning political crimes;

All the more so in these turbulent times;

Being angry is our constitution;

But on contemplating the posturing,

I asked myself, why am I bothering,

With all this hollering; quarrelling,

Amounting to mere noise-pollution?

Dear Lola, steer-clear of religions,

Left, middle, right-wing, politicians;

Be wary of media technicians;

Their platforms are more than they seem,

Whilst we are like lambs to the slaughter,

And many a demagogue supporter,

Will beckon you to poisonous water,

And urge you to drink from the stream.