If you want to lead

If you want to lead

It should never be you

Holding office

Wielding power,

Pressing buttons on a whim.

It is a lonely world

At the best of times

Too much empathy

Would drive you insane

Not enough

Would bring grief

To the rest of us

Patriots.

Could I swear allegiance

To a flag

What is the point of that

The difference in idealogy

Between fanatic and patriot

It is a matter of degrees

Which side of the line

You stand.

I gave up singing the anthem

As a child

We would shuffle out

Of the cinema before

The end

To escape the shame

Of standing

To attention

Do they do that now I wonder

At the end of the day

On the BBC.

Perhaps the oligarchs,

Who stand to gain

From the pain

Of the hamster wheel,

Have the world by the gulags.

No longer pulling

A fast one

From behind a curtain

They stand as bold as brass

Behind bulletproof glass

Holding the world to ransom

Taking the high ground

Because they can.

Some might say

You can’t fool all the people

All of the time

But fool enough

And you can run a bloody country

Ruin a bloody world.

Try fighting that conglomerate

When they call you a traitor

For speaking up

With a different voice

Centre left is radical

Extreme right is orthodox.

It is a crazy world

Stop it, please

I want to get off.