Jaws

The jaws of industry cranked and cracked and fractured the crust 

And churned  it’s nectar to soot and smog to satisfy our desire 

And war burnt carcasses while they still had breathe in their agonized virgin boyhood bodies

And carbon blackened all surfaces it touched inside and outside

Carcinogenic plundered bounty and booty and loot

Ripped out the heart of lands not built, by those who somehow laid claim by title and deed 

And it began to die. 

But such was our lust and desire for more that we bought what the pushers were dealing

And such was the comfort we took from their toys forgot what it was to have feelings

For others to live outside our imposition as we became monsters and took our positions n the self-centred prisons 

And we turned to self-help for our state of mind  

took drugs from the doc because life was unkind 

And cruel 

And poor me

I’m hurting

I’m scared

I haven’t got enough

We used to watch the news and give alms to the poor but now we watch the news to watch Presidents roar

And we swallow their shit because we just needed more of the product the pushers were dealing

And somewhere inside we had cause to decide that we needed to jump off this terrible ride

But nobody could we were scared if we would that the crash on the floor would hurt you

So we put down the books and we turned to Facebook where we painted pictures of virtue

And we shouted and we clawed and we hissed and scratched until raw and we bit  

we punched screamed and we kicked we gouged out eyes with our fingertips

And we shoot from our hips and dug in positions and forced imposition from living room prisons 

And none of the wretched thought they could be bettered as they shattered the sentences on screens of their nemesis

that was the example we set 

And yet,

we expected the ones we beset 

With a future of chaos and carnage and death

Not to upset us  to please us like Jesus and  forgive us for all of our debt

To better behave as they learnt from example for we knew all I’ll just give you a sample

Of  middle-aged virtue so do what I do but please save yourselves, kids, it’s over to you 

And we took our positions and forced imposition and made prisons of fear for those we held dearest

And the future was bleak

And bare

And unknown

But we didn’t care we brought goods on our phones 

We just couldn’t tear our minds hearts and bones 

from the product, the pushers were dealing

The jaws of industry cranked and cracked and fractured the crust 

And turned it’s nectar to soot and smog to fulfill our lust

And greed burnt the carcasses while they still had breathe in their agonized virgin bodies

And carbon blackened all surfaces it touched inside and outside

Carcinogenic plundered bounty and booty and loot

Ripped out the heart of lands not built, 

by those who somehow laid claim by title and deed 

Hope began to die

And then DNA came in a packet of fat, the smallest of things contained in a bat

And it launched an attack to the root of it all and despite of its size grown men would soon fall

And The products of pushers went into remission  

We were forced into prisons in locked down positons 

As a new impositions reduced our emissions

And outraged increased as COVID did spread because now we were scared we would number the dead

The threat that we faced was here and now,  now we would act, now we slow down

The Jaws that cranked and cracked and fractured the crust

And now we could stop from chasing the lust

That blackened all surfaces it touched and covered in soot

Now we would forgo plundered bounty and loot

And those who laid claim would no longer gain

from the land that they claimed with deed and title and fame.

We acted to save our own skins. 

And of course, we laid blame for that was the game that we had all trained 

We labeled the children the spreaders

And we shut down the schools and we locked them away

It was too dangerous for us 

so they couldn’t  play

We the ones of sulpher and soot entrenched our positions and laid impositions on ones who weren’t threatened but still we imprisoned. 

And ended their summer and ended their spring and filled them with fear to drown out their singing 

It was us that were scared it was us that where sweating 

And the ones who were threatened were the old who abetted 

the system before and then shut the door on the young ones from hoping and worse began choking 

The hope for a life, like Grandad’s

So we took to our screens 

And we shouted

And we hissed

And we lashed and we clawed  

And we scratched and we bit

And we gouged each other’s eyes out with the tips of our tongue

And we couldn’t accept it was we that was wrong

And all that we pointed in our brothers direction 

Was simply a sad act of guilt and projection 

And the end of it all we were guilty as charged for all we feeling we had done to our children as we kept receiving 

The product the pushers were dealing

And lockdown was lifted and we went back to work in planes trains and cars 

Thought Covid had hurt

nobody had bothered to think of the kids 

At least  nobody mentioned if they in fact did

Nobody bothered to think of their trauma. 

They had better get strong Covid was the warm-up 

School strikes on Friday had filled them with fear

We stood alongside them with crocodile tears

We used paper straws and pretended we cared

And fought endless wars while deep down they prepared

Their hearts and minds for years to come for when we were all gone

 it was they who would face the great ticking bomb

We set in motion with smog and the soot 

That blackened the inside of all that it took

And they looked back and laughed at the time we all feared.

All of us adults who cranked up the gears 

of a soot-blackened world with our soot-blackened souls.

And they danced and they spat on our burial holes

they hated and mocked the lives gone before 

The cowards who shivered  beyond their locked doors

Who could shut down the world to save their own score 

But choose to ignore our own babies roar

For when it was all done and the virus was gone and the humans had won

We bought product the pushers were dealing