Has the time gone

Has the time gone

When our intervention really mattered

When words carefully uttered

Influenced what might be done

Information shared

Not out of courtesy

But as a matter of course

As natural as breathing

Advice sought, counsel given

Our position central to an outcome

Goodwill, even temper

A reflection of a good life

How slowly comes the change

Until it is an unstoppable force

Pushed into a siding

Without need of a wheelchair

The caution once kindly labeled wisdom

Now worn as hesitation

A sign of dithering

Betwixt and between

Too soft the word

Now left unheard

Opinion barely registered

Inconvenient truths

Rebranded as out of step

With modern times

When harsh remedies for social ills

Are the choice of a louder voice

Perhaps the community

Of which you still speak

Is waiting, behind closed gates

Where old comrades of the fight

Can pontificate about populism

As they play a game of dominoes

Sing protest songs around a piano

Ziggy play’s guitar

As privilege is repackaged

In the newspeak of

Responsible sustainability

To be re-sold to the people

As an answer to the ills

We inflicted upon the world

It is our fault, not theirs.

Tell me then,

Where it all went wrong

As the same things were said

When we were young

A time of revolution

A time of change

How strange

Instead of celebrating

A different way

The old school ties

Of reformed radicals

And fat cats remain

Even when past their prime

They are the leaders

Of global corporations

In a mad world

Still in thrall to power

The cult of personality

Rampant consumerism

And the pursuit

Of everlasting wealth