Far Country

[volution]

Far Country

============

 

Empty streets and empty skies,

No-one stops, they just walk on by

Those who have fallen along the way,

Too busy to care, except for their day.

 

A day of work, of worry and stress,

Why oh why have I become part of this mess?

Tenderness denied to all but a few,

No-one really means anymore "I love you…"

 

Passion has been replaced by anger and fear,

As the weak and the feeble many jeer.

Living to work, is the only life for most,

In prison-like apartments and offices we roast,

 

Burning ourselves out, to pay more and more

Bills - what do we have left at the day's door?

Someone's body hangs as a chair falls to the floor,

Too many just can not take it anymore…

 

No room to breathe, no time to think,

We mindlessly the lies in our world drink

Into our bodies, with poison abound,

Creation and freedom are rarely found

 

Anymore in this world of consumption,

What more is life's sole function?

No-one asks or wonders like a child,

The human spirit is slowly being defiled,

 

By the mistruths, pretences and masks,

And daily mundane meaningless tasks.

Trains are full of sweating bodies,

Cattle enjoy better service than these dummies.

 

But it is not at all their fault,

How can one know, if their soul not revolts,

Against the injustice, the bitterness and pain,

"Will I be but a robot for people's gain?".

 

Strangers come and strangers go,

Few, even the bravest will even say 'hello'.

Youths take over the streets night and day,

So most people in their homes stay away

 

From the life that should be taking hold,

Stopping us from dying and growing old

Before our time - this is such a crime -

Few stand up any longer and say "I'm

 

Alive and I won't stand it anymore,

How can one live like this, how long for?"

We sadly settle with a heavy heart,

For anything that's wrong, for the cart

 

We wish to not upset,

"Keep your head down" and "Just Forget

About it", are the rules of this age,

Few people read more than a TV page,

 

Or obsess the emptiness of famous lives,

Because theirs are even duller, and wives

Stay at home, desperately seeking romance,

No knights shine anymore, nor dance

 

With them except maybe in a Boonful book,

No wonder people for infatuation mistook

Love eternal, even though that's all we seek,

Distrust, anger, disinterest are of what most reek.

 

As long as we have a body no matter how cold to share,

We feel this empty, meaningless life we'll be able to bear,

But it's a lie with which we'll cheat ourselves more,

Until our heart's dead - nothing left but stone at our core.

 

Metal beasts run riot in narrow roads,

More and more park at smaller abodes.

Health and welfare are for the privileged few,

The rest are left to survive and stew

 

In the melting-pot of political whims,

Lives are but figures, nameless limbs.

We try and battle for what's right,

But few ever can keep up the fight.

 

Green hills and castle walls,

Shed tears for such a sad fall

Of a once great country, famously free,

Lovers initials carved in the bark of a summer's tree…

 

Now the only initials are sprayed on fences,

Buildings and lampposts - first offences

That harbour no fear, nothing to deter,

Leading most youth to a life interred

 

Inside broken institutions, cells and homes,

They'll never think about anything save their own

Self, the money they need for all their habits,

To get them through life's vacant transit.

 

Making a living becomes more futile each year,

People are told to keep inside their tears.

Living alone is becoming the common way,

Finding the funds in the ever-hardening day,

 

To keep the in-joke of independence alive,

Is for most all that they will strive.

What a waste of potential talent and love,

What is God thinking in heaven above?

 

A flower opens, the birds begin to sing,

Precious few take the time to listen in.

Instead the hum of a depressing news item,

Is one sure way that their day will lighten!

 

Oh yes, how can I write with such glee,

In this land, of such irony.

I am but a lone voice, dying here alone,

Heard only by you, in a far country - my true home.

[Jinx]

Very nice, and it does speak such a great deal of truth about our modern world and attitudes, for better or worse.

[ShySoul]

What can I say? I'm a fan of your work. Keep it up.

 

And don't lose hope. Really, hope can be all we have.