These Are The Days (Bombs and Pamphlets)

 

“Days of Bombs and Pamphlets”
Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s description of 1920’s Barcelona.

 

These are the days,

IED-days and sound-bitten

youtube-d days.

Gunshots on the underground,

we have more to fear

than a sonic attack.

 

These are the days,

political days, polarised days,

days of venom and bile.

Vitriol by proxy,

the dark side of the

loosened upper lip.

 

These are the days,

island days, ill-gotten

bumper pay-days

in fiscal paradises.

Give, give, my people

while I play Smaug with taxes.

 

These are the days,

days of naïveté and deceit,

days for gammon and gulls

in wicked Westminster

and the wealthy wharf

where once were stevedores.

 

These are the days,

of slogans on buses,

and outright lies

pouring from those

above us, destined for

bolgia ten in circle eight.

 

These are the days,

of pathetic politicos,

meagre manifestos,

dishonest dialogue.

Words, words, worthless words

as the bombs disguise the whimpers.

 

These are the days,

of puerile pamphlets:

run, hide, and tell,

echoes of duck and cover

as we pull our heads into the shell

and crawl away from Europe.