Australians all let us find voice
For we are being deceived
Our country’s politicians foist
Their scorn on refugees
Send Tamils to Sri Lankan camps
Like Jews of history
On UN stage, the world will rage
But blame not Aussies please
Our politicians act for selves
Ignoring of our pleas
I need the watching world to know
THEY DO NOT ACT FOR ME
Fugitive Fragments 
So much to be heart broken about – more empathy needed in our world.
yes, and more action too pearlz – thanks for this compassion and support.
Ever it has been so alas
of all official speakers
though all know each a pompous ass
Paint our repute ere bleaker.
Alex
The citizens are cast as Rogues
Well writ I say! Thanks Alex.
👍👍👍
“I need the watching world to know THEY DO NOT ACT FOR ME” …the power of the written word, when the mind knows …Mike, it is a pleasure to have crossed your path 🙂
Thank you very much Maria though I’m pessimistic about the power my words will have in this instance.
was it not W.B. Yeats, who said “… we pessimists have everything to gain…” ? 🙂 …you are a true poet Mike McGuire –
Well said, Mike. And these bloody fighting US buffoons don’t act for me! Nor this president that we all placed so much hope in, it seems.
We all carve out our own lonely path and make the best of it and just hope that we don’t get on the wrong side of those in power for insubordination.
True for you Jackie. It would be very vain of us to think that our protests would change anything, but saying nothing would be even worse. There’s 50M of these guys floating around the planet and yunno between them and Occupy’s 99%, conditions are not unalike those leading up to the French Revolution…
Reblogged this on How my heart speaks and commented:
This is also relevant in Europe.And Mike has a really good blog that you must visit,
Anybody who doesn’t know that politics is crime has a few screws loose..
James Ellroy
…yes E, and to make matters worse, this crime pays and gives time off for obnoxious behaviour.
You battle with difficult topics and do so with poetry – now that’s showing just how much poetry really DOES matter.
That’s so kind of you Christy. In medieval Ireland such a poem was the work of the Bard – a nomadic poet who dined in the great houses and in return for his food recited poems about current affairs he’d heard on this travels. Like much of his, my news today is sad.
I Really appreciate having read this post… I Wonder why this kind of think tend to happen in many countries… Lack of territory is not an excuse in Australia’ s case. Right?…Reasons, reasons….
Best wishes dear Mike. I hope you have a great week ahead,
Aquileana /)
Thank you Aquileana – in this case it’s all about politicians getting re-elected. Great reason for people to die, eh?
Very well said, Mike. A real cri de coeur. Politicians always speak first and foremost for themselves and since they form a caste apart, just because you disagree doesn’t mean you’ll ever have your voice heard. I remember reading that in 1947 the British had organised a repatriation of Holocaust survivors in…Germany. What do they have where other people have a heart?
A ‘caste apart’ indeed Jane. We poets have licence to play with our words but those guys have elevated it to a higher art form. It’s not about refugees any more – it’s about ego.
Amen!
The universality of your affirmation overpowers its brevity – thank you Michele
Wonderful poem, Mike, on an issue that I too feel strongly about. It’s a total disgrace. That Morrison is chummy with Sri Lanka’s president makes me wince. Whatever one feels about the best way to prevent asylum seekers dying at sea, to send the persecuted to the persecutors is unconscionable. All so that they might say: We have stopped the boats.
‘unconscionable’ – the very word I was looking for; thank you for this apt (and very welcome) contribution.
I hear you, Mike, and my heart goes out to you guys who don’t / can’t agree with those politicians, and of course to asylum seekers everywhere. Your poem is tight and effective and, on a technical note if I may, has a rhythm and rhyme that make it even more memorable.
Thank you for this support and kind comment Polly. I only believe that this country should at least do the same as other countries are doing to accommodate stateless persons.
The Greed Machine has taken over our country. So many people are just vile. 😦
The majority are disturbingly silent Claudie as our government behaves like a totalitarian police state. Between bouts of anger I feel sorry for Australia too.
Now that’s a huge improvement on the original anthem, methinks…
Thanks m, considering the original has the following line in its very first verse…
‘For those who’ve come across the seas we’ve boundless plains to share’
Touche
I just keep thinking how bad a situation is if you’re prepared to give up everything and risk your life just to get away from it…
You are feeling what Saadi (1184 – 1283) felt when he wrote: “All human beings are limbs of the same body. If one part of the body suffers pain, then the whole body is affected. If you are indifferent to this pain, you cannot be called a human being”.
Yes
Such a tough line to walk, Mike.
One way street Audrey.