Take a step back

They say sometimes one step forward, two steps back
But we get there and fail to remember where we are
Or from where we came.

But the stark truth is that no-one seems to care,
What's won is won, what's lost is lost,
Two steps back we're all the same.

They'll have you looking everywhere.
To your left, to the right, we'll get on alright.
But they trick us into thinking someone else is to blame.

We stick the same picture in a different frame
And suddenly we think we're all the wiser.
But we just take two steps backwards again.

And there in the high tower they laugh.
Their power doesn't care for culture and creed
But whoever they can use to accelerate their gain

As lowly we spread and multiply through
This finite sphere while the few up top
Accrue to our lack, yet still we blame
The ones like us. It's a shame.

Arabesques

That blighted sound of pitter-patter riles my very soul,

as meaningless words are typed onto soulless screens

and, caged, my body squirms in a windowless vessel.

All hopes fade with every smack of the space bar,
separating lines of spuriously contemplated pish -
my head, erupting, amidst a cacophony of plastic.

The constant hammering builds to a crescendo
of a lamentable 21st Century symphony
where creativity has come to die.

Swap me that plastic for blissful ivory chime,
each key caressed with the guile of an artist's touch
while words typed as melodies kiss my eardrums

Or the glistening glide of a whittled feather
painting trails of masterful strokes,
each line, to capture, a heartfelt moment.

As my mind wanders through each letter scribed,
the chains around me seemingly come loose-
the patter muted under sweet Arabesques.

The end of the world

Last night I dreamed of the end of the world,
A hot sphere blazing red
Searing flesh and melting roads,
Which were blocked as the exodus
In vain tried to reach
The dark side of the globe.

All the king's men

Humpty dumpty sat on a wall
But he was black, so a white man shoved him off;
The cracks of bygone days revealed once again.

And all the king's men watched on,
Not in disgust but in disdain.
How dare he sit on that wall?