The Roundabout Of Politics

 

We build them bridges and sell them arms,

Then send your sons to blow their skies,

When it’s flattened out like the desert sand,

We’ll send our boys to build their land.

 

Round and round and round you go,

You sometimes sink and you sometimes flout,

We’ll take you, by the arm or by the throat,

And take you round the roundabout again.

 

Our lies are good but their lies are crimes,

We can take what’s theirs but they can’t touch ours.

So don’t make a scene, don’t make a fuss,

Lets go round the roundabout again.

 

Round and round and round it goes,

We never lose, because we make the rules,

You can call it mad or call it insane,

But to us, it’s just a game.

 

I know,

Lets go round the roundabout again, and again,

And again, and again, ……

Reviews

[R J Askew]

You're right. The devil in me says 'how can I be one of the winners?' Alas, I don't seem to have the necessary ... whatever it is. But then most of us don't. But if we cld be winners, wld we? Wld we do whatever it takes? I've never been in a position where I've had the choice, so I don't know. But one thing is certain, I definitely don't want to be one of the losers. I'm reading a book about Muboto ... Africa's greatest thief and dictator who beggared his country. Morality seems to have very little to do with the great game. I don't know about the rights and wrongs of sending the boys, but if I was one of the boys I wld definitely be cheesed if my kit didn't work. Most of the time most of us don't seem to know what we are doing. Maybe the ones who do are the really dangerous ones. So your poem made me think. Great stuff.

[Dianah]

Brilliant. The hypocrisy of politicians and war. Yes, it has happened before and it will happen again. A roundabout ride, indeed.

[April Child]

Good metaphor and an evocative piece writing. I did find that you have a few superfluous words however, I tripped on reading a bit here and there and think it could be tidied a little for instance, first stanza could read like this:

Build them bridges, sell them arms,
send your sons to blow their skies,
when it's flat like desert sand,
we'll send our boys to build their land.

Just my thought.

[deeps]

Our lies are good but their lies are crimes,
We can take what's theirs but they can't touch ours.

I really enjoyed these lines here, there is so much said
in these two lines.

This is a very well written write here.
Once again great flow and wonderful poetic skills.