Election Day

A poem written very quickly, mostly on the train to London this morning. It’s good, I think, to capture feelings as they arise… a sort of personal historical record.

Election Day

 

Morning breaks on this day of election

When all good people will make their selection

On icy pavements they trudge to polling station

Across towns and cities of this divided nation

And even in the village halls

The duty of the ballot calls

A task that merits neither pay nor elation

 

And by the evening we’ll be none the wiser

First to know is tomorrow’s early riser

Counting will continue throughout the night

When candidates no longer need to fight

For that prominent place in history

Actual results will still be a mystery

Until the counters have counted right

 

We are told this process will our futures fix

Despite the deceit and the dirty tricks

For many years there has been no other

That has divided friend, even sister from brother

With different visions of a single truth

Distinction made between age and youth

Separating children from father and mother

 

By questioning what some have said and done

The democratic process may well have won

In examination of every fault and flaw

Of decision taken behind closed door

They played as if to win a game

Leaders in the past were not the same

This election must teach us so much more

 

More about the changes we need to make

No politician allowed our own laws to break

Let there be no place for political lies

No space for media who dare not criticise

For without truth there can be no just decision

No indignation nor rightful derision

Electors, now, must become more wise

 

A wisdom not purveyed by the party elite

Nor confined to the rooms of Downing Street

The will of the people should not be defined

At a cabinet table where the blind lead the blind

We must find a way to remove our trust

From those who only for more power lust

And make a system made for all mankind