the old queen still sits upon her throne
tin soldiers still melt in her furnace
princes still prance on polo ponies/
the clichés are killing us:
we change channels
Africa is burning/ Paris is dancing
we change channels
Africa is dancing/ Paris is burning,
the ice is melting
the tide is rising/
new laws are coming
laws of silence, silence & shopping & work:
spoke the little prime minister of the great island
girt by lies/ by the click of the shear,
by the friend of the Texas hangman
president of where-the-buffalo-roamed/
prince of hurricanes:
trapped in the nightmare of his fallen towers
trapped in the revenger’s tragedies
and we all are punish’d
we all must pay
as we rush through the streets of the terror
to get the last Xmas shopping done
at Babylon Plaza.

David Hallett