Colonialism

How did you justify
Stealing and killing
From those who own
But are unwilling?

You used religion
And science to say
They are below you
In made up ways

And now you use arrogance
And discrimination
To control equals or betters
Even in the same nation

Jokes are used
Hurtfully…
To hide behind
Insidiously…

And statues are used
To glorify the pillage
They poison the nation
& weaken it with spillage

The spawn of public schools
Like Eton & Harrow
Brutal and shameless
Monsters of sorrow

But inherited wealth
Can’t be repeated
Change must come, cos
The future can’t be cheated

The past can hold back
Or help evolve to find
New ways that include
New ties that bind

The Void

There is no agreed meaning to life…
There is a void.

There is no agreed measure
No agreed target
No agreed acceptable end…
There is a void.

It is left to us
To create our own meaning…
To try to fill the void.

The pursuit of growth
Of wealth, of power
Became a dominant meaning
Within our culture.
Those who have want more
Those who have not aspire…
To try to fill the void.

Over millennia, humankind evolved
To cover the earth
Until certain European countries
Acquired power & wealth
By colonisation of peoples
By breaking their resistance
Through efficient
Killing from a distance…
To try to fill the void.

Religion and science were used by the powerful
To enable and justify the genocide.
Laws were created to control the weak
Whilst the powerful lied
To grow and maintain their privilege
And so the wealth of other civilisations was pillaged…
To try to fill the void.

To colonise the rest of America
American colonists went on
Through genocide and theft
Of the indigenous population.
So also in Africa
So also in Australia…
All trying to fill the void.

In the 20th century WW1, WW2,
Some recognition of what was lost
Lions led by donkeys
Hiroshima & the Holocaust,
Trying to fill the void.

From a distance,
Living standards have increased
Humanity has evolved
Violence has decreased
But dark actions of the past are hiding
Under the veil of progress.
Were those civilisations given a choice?
In how we reached such progress?
Could we have chosen a different path
To reach such progress?
Did they share equally
In the benefits of such progress?
All countries, peoples and tribes
Want the freedom to choose
Their own unique way
To fill the void.

Those once persecuted
May persecute in time
See the Middle East
Israel & Palestine
We humans have good
But also bad inside
We must find better ways
To fill the void.