A Different Country

I step outside, breath in fresh air
The walls were closing in around me
I drag a chair to the lawn and sit right down
To drink my Earl Grey tea.

Slip out my diary from my trouser pocket
Swipe a fly, pick up the pen
I start by scribbling out the date
And whimper, not again.

It’s my birthday, it’s another one
The world’s still in a mess
Love is lost and hate is strong
And some could not care less.

They are the folk who sleep and wake
Up each brand new day
They go to work and come back home
And still have time to play.
And should you say to them, you think
The world is such a mess
They laugh and pour another beer
They just don’t want the stress.

An x – box and a mobile phone
Are held up like a God
And through those mindless little tools
They create their little worlds.

They praise themselves, they admire themselves
They’re hot, they’re sweet, they’re cool
Millennials can’t be criticized
Because that is somehow cruel.

If you did, or dared. they’d run away
To find themselves some space
Distance is the magic word
Far from the human race.

So what to do in this narcissistic world
Where we have no need for prayer
It means now we can love ourselves
We are idols, tread with care.

We are mortal, there’s no soul that lives
When our world at last stops turning
No rising on angelic wings
Or hell’s eternal burning.

Alas, for me I have a soul

Now on an earthly trip
The journey is eternal
This life is but a blip

Year by year another candle
Added to the cake
And my safe space welcomes those I love
And friendships yet to make.