What do I see?
What do I see in this
generation that is trying
to find its way?
It’s youth crime, they say.
All those who generate concern
off the back of despair.
And then pontificate about
what should be done.
Lock the fuckers up!
I hear other voice everywhere.
Trash, they are!
Fast cars.
Smash and grab.
Assault, robbery, murder.
Terrorising with gangs
fueled by drugs and booze
and everything that’s not there.
An empty place filled with
violence where law has no meaning
for it is offers no hope.
An empty barren space.
What do I see?
I see failures that ripple down
through layers of neglect.
The hidden origins started some time ago.
We have sucked on prosperity
and now it is drying up.
We bought the lie that everything will
be okay.
History is haunting us now.
Have we forgotten how discontent
can rise?
We must act, or so the leaders will say,
but we will not like their actions,
and will they even work,
for despite all we say we know we cannot
fix the unturned roots that lie in
culture, family and community
across this lucky country.
We cannot fix it without retilling
the hard and dry soil
and planting strong and deep
and adding water as nurture so
they will grow.
We have forgotten we are farmers.
We need to rediscover what makes
success.

 

25/1/2023