LYNN WHITE

 

 

Lammy’s Lament

 

I hear no cries

I hear no sighs

no one has died

there’s no genocide.

 

So goes the chorus of Lammy’s Lament.

In the choir the voices sing louder,

louder and louder

in a chorus of lies

to bring down the House

of those dead inside,

to bring down the house

on those dead inside.

 

They See No Genocide

 

Up to now

they have heard no cries.

Up to now

they have heard no sighs.

They have known

of no one who has died.

They know

there are lies

but Israel never lies

and there is no genocide.

They must know

but they’re dead

inside.

Not even votes

will bring this Party

to life.

Democracy is dead

inside.

 

In The Theatres Of The Absurd

 

In the theatres

from Washington

to Westminster

the political players

are taking the stage

ready to play their parts

and speaking on cue

as directed

by their part in a government

where ethics are as dead as genocide,

where ethics never existed,

just like genocide,

where ethics are deader

than Rosencrantz and Gildenstern

and only the absurd still lives.

 

A Child’s View

 

It’s a child’s view of winter,

a comfortable child’s view

of Christmas-card victoriana

with no dark side visible,

only the bright side allowed.

 

So there’s no smoke pollution

and no hungry children

running, ragged

and barefoot

in rubbish strewn streets.

 

Only the bright side is allowed

in the Christmas card winter

that still we wait for.

 

United Nations

 

It was set up in the aftermath of war

to enable co-operation

to warn of catastrophe

to enable peace to be kept

and genocide to be part only of history.

 

Now it is condemned by its creators,

has become a pariah to those same states

who wrote its charter and envisaged its role

in speaking out

against oppressors

speaking out

against atrocities.

 

Still, it speaks out

to its creators

who now feed the flames

of genocide

unitedly deaf and blind.

 

LYNN WHITE

 

LYNN WHITE lives in north Wales. Her work is influenced by issues of social justice and events, places and people she has known or imagined. She is especially interested in exploring the boundaries of dream, fantasy and reality. She has been nominated for Pushcarts, Best of the Net and a Rhysling Award.