I knew you were angry

I knew you were angry

After we saw the telegenic

Evangelist

Drive off in a Ranger Rover

With blacked-out windows

Just after he’d been beseeching

Poor people with nothing

But the money

They put on the plate

To turn the other cheek,

To be forgiving and await

Their reward in heaven.

We had seen it all before

Rich people bleating about taxes

Paying off officialdom

With a gratuity

That was really

A bribe

Expecting special treatment,

Gifts and freebies,

Just because.

I knew you were angry

But we talked about it

And decided

We could only do what we could do

If we were to lie down with dogs

We would get fleas too.

All of our efforts were in vain

As money trumped

Good sense and morality

Every time.

But you put yourself out there

Protesting,

Making a nuisance of yourself

Getting arrested for throwing eggs

At oligarchs

Who looked like avocados

On a gravy train

And pissed oil

For fun.

Last I heard you were serving time

In a penal colony

On a ship in the Thames Estuary

For setting an oligarch’s stream

On fire

And burning down the House of Lords.

Why blame the building?

Fanning the flame

Is not good for the carbon footprint

But at least you got a roof over your head.

I’m on a green hill far away

Living under canvas,

Fighting for scraps

With all the other meek souls

Who will one day

Inherit the earth.