Oh Australia

Oh Australia

When will we learn

Tin Pots and technocrats

Defile the land we now call home

Divert the source of water

Deprive an ancient basin

Whilst filling up the pool

In their own backyard

Dig new world minerals

Dark satanic mills

Ghostly shadows from the past

Everything a wasteland

Echoes of Victoria

Laying claim to half the world

To be English and be proud

Say it without prejudice

Gentleman understand irony

As well as self-deprecation

In the service of a nation

Mean streaks rarely respect

Man-made borders

He who is without sin

Would truly be a miracle

Oh America

What have you become

The legacy of Tom Paine

Integrity of Atticus

The passion of a King

Usurped by misplaced values

In a twist of pioneer spirit

Before the West was won

When every cowboy held a gun

Riding a mustang

Before it was a Ford

Forget ole’ Henry was a racist

A creator of wealth

For the few whilst trampling

The rights of so very many

People he despised

Disassembling the power

Of the workers in the name

Of progress

A leader of the free world

A marketeer

In a new frontier

Enslaving production makers

Who once were Spartans

Intent on rising up

Still caught up in a dream

Of new horizons

Whilst swimming

In a dust bowl

Dying for the pride of good intentions

Living in a false economy

Of independent spirit

Empowering new slave-owners

To hold their ground

Brandishing a constitution

As a weapon to keep the peace

As gun law rules

An underbelly soft with fools

Runs down objective news

Diminishes the tenacity

Of investigative reporting

Demolishing the stock

Of the noble 4th estate

Say it is not fit for purpose

Whilst swallowing the lies

Of bigots and supremos

With axes to grind

Who hide behind

Anonymity to salt the earth

With poison

Oh English

Senseless souls

What have you done

To England’s pleasant land

A haven for real heroes

Backs to the wall

Adrift in isolation

Fighting over scraps

As the big boys’ splash

The cash for power

China always had a wall

It means more now

Than a selfie

Remember what was lost

To make your gains

Whatever happened to good grace

There are no real winners

There is no future without

Cooperation

The cradle of civilisation

Stand or fall

By how we come together

Take a moment to remember

No matter how much we own

What we contribute

To make a whole

No matter who we are or what we do

From the bottom to the top

We the people

Are simply being human too