Nero's legacy

There’s a question that’s been burning in this head for quite some time,

a query based on limits and the boundaries we design,

a pondering based on counting straws upon the camels back,

of a sense of preservation that a species seems to lack

Bi-pedal frogs that frolic as the water starts to boil,

the living dead grinning in boxes as they shovel in the soil

 

What causes so much apathy in the minds of the first world ?

Above each cookie cutter mansion the flag of self- interest unfurled,

but has it been a lesson taught by pure hunger for the gold

with which our hopes and dreams are hijacked, and our freedoms slowly sold,

or simply a form of mental armour against the hopelessness we feel

with every crooked politician and each back scratching dodgy deal,

and when we’re offered handpicked puppets to represent the peoples voice

within a system built round privilege do we really have a choice ?

 

The earth that has supported us is raped to feed the needs

of a percentage of its peoples whom grow rich on the proceeds,

whilst the rest condemned to spend what lives are swept from gilded tables

in polluted and denuded lands in poverty that enables

the virtual slavery and exploitation these conditions soon create,

and yet the crowned heads still believe its jealousy that fuels the hate,

not the locust mindset driving a hunger never sated,

nor destruction of the earth turned to semantics just debated,

a gap in understanding that what we deliver is soon returned

and simply shutting eyes and ears will never halt a lesson learned

 

So how much is too much, and when will asses leave their seats ?

for apathy though helpful soon equates with mere defeat

We must realise all’s connected in a myriad of ways

and its ourselves that we are hurting with our unconcerned displays

for the future has been written if we continue down this line

and just how do we all wish to find our legacy defined ?

 

As those whose eyes stayed glued to screens as flames lapped at the door ?

Consuming in air conditioned malls while temperatures outside soar ?

Condemning many to misery whilst we whine of first world cares,

the happiness of others lost in the scramble for cheap wares,

lauding our democracy yet missing the whole point

as we elect liars and thieves who lock us up over a joint,

environmental degradation barely registers concern,

the legacy of Nero, fiddling leisurely as we burn