The Forgotten Bomb

 Do you know your son?

 Flesh and blood your own?

 Burning ambition to build this nation?

 The skill in these hands- The will to toil our lands? 

Fears, frightful frustrations; 

Pain of remaining forgotten 

Unconsulted, untended

Don’t you care? Daddy, 

sincerely… Must you always brush by?

 Push me away; Kick me aside like a stone in your way?

 Then briskly…phew! ***

 “To ‘men’s business’, diligent engagements

 And I promise -before my demise

 The surest bequest -for you my dearest:

 A top job That house on the hill, 

For a car - a Hummer.” ***

“But when…?” *** “Your time will come 

Till then, be calm! 

*** Morning after morning 

A decade of identical mornings 

A pile of empty promises- 

And I have felt small- Unremarkable;

 Like the lightest dust 

On the tiniest tin 

On the lowest shelf 

I have groped into darkness 

dragged into drugs by idleness; 

Attempted suicide 

instead, died inside! 

Yearning for the sky But falling anyway 

While you were away 

 “Minding our economy; minting money

 Taming our climate; changing our fate 

Am a busy daddy, wait till 2030!” 

  Consequently I’ve felt inconsequent!

 Essentially inessential! I have felt like nothing

 Lost in a pile of…nothing! 

I have felt…feelingless! 

 But while I lay prostrate Beaten, smitten, desperate;

 Looking for a place to hide my face 

What did I find?

 Myspace! Facebook- the new face of friendship! 

Twitter- calling all to fellowship! 

A voice! A tune! A low rumbling call- 

Piped in underground tunnels;

 I listened: revelation! Revolution! 

Voices south, voices north Young dreams voiced forth

… Tunisian, Egyptian, Lybian

 Music brewing, boiling in hidden pots 

The sound of a common cry 

Crying a summon to all - 

A clarion call Decrying a common foe 

Crying but calling to war- 

Suddenly, I am strong! 

 I prance with aplomb - The young forgotten bomb

 Loaded with information Awaiting detonation! 

 You! Yes, daddy, you! -The wide world knows 

- immersed in mess after mess

 Scandal after scandal- Irregular tenders 

Kickbacks back to back- 

Party politics-cheap tricks,  Shameless theatrics 

And now, says Wikileaks,- It’s just you and The Hague.

This charge is not vague! 

 But, daddy… Honestly, what of amnesty? 

But, no! Punishment, not impunity!

 But daddy…!

 but no! Come… let go!

 I do… I do not ! know 

 The music of change Must beat without rage; 

Repentance, recompense 

Not pay back but give back.

 Take my hand now, daddy

 We must fly away Into a new season 

In my own vision.