Perceptions of a ragged space,

all that was left by the human race,

there's not a lot left to see at all,

as their carelessness was seldom small.

Let's dig around 

in that frazzled ground,

for that's where there's bound to be,

some signs of dodgy chemistry

or maybe just a little radiation,

the sort that killed another nation,

though they said it wasn't bad at all,

any effects would be so very small,

just as asbestos would never embroil

us in disease, nor would  a little spilt oil.

But profit ruled the minds of men,

the bosses say do this thing and then,

you'll have enough to pay the rent,

but wouldn't as it was always spent

on a merry night out with the boys,

long before those electric toys

just sinking pints to rinse the dust, 

before staggering home all filled with lust,

Then some had coal with a price too pay,

only if they 'bought it', down the pit one day,

other times they might just cough it out,

smuggled home in their lungs no doubt,

or maybe they were lost out in the wild sea

aiming to catch that fishy for the rich folks tea,

others were mangled up in the cotton mill wheels,

where safety guards didn't hide belts and reels..

And ever as man moved to make it safer than before,

some new peril would be found to drop men onto the floor

be it from a toxic gas or perhaps a mercury leak,

what did it matter while some profit they'd seek,

the waste might well taint the rivers and poison all

the fish they ate and so keep their children small,

small and weedy with some horrendous rash

while the air was grey with muck and ash.

I could go on for many a verse,

but I've no wish to be perverse,

for by now the penny will have dropped

for those whose brains have not been shot,

by additives to make processed food have taste

or keep it 'fresh' longer so as not to waste,

any scraps of reclaimed fat and gristle,

oh dear, now I've gone and blown the whistle.

And thats before I even mention the Taiji men

who slaughter dolphins by the thousands and then

sell their flesh with labels as if another meat,

what is it that Japan now consumes for a treat,

I wonder do they ever know for sure,

what it is they bring in through their doors

and so the follies still go on and on

do you wonder why I feel so strong?

©Rhumour

August 28th 2010