iv. life

60p for a litre of petrol,
£15 for a fake Gucci;
£6 for a cinema ticket,
20p pirate DVDs;
£800 for a decent meal with
a view to a (polluted) lake,
and God-knows-how-much for one
to live, or just to pass the day.

A postgraduate in criminal law
with nothing to please them all:
D in English meant no PhD,
though all the rest were A;
none to bribe the judges with,
nor contacts to lead her way;
so she teaches in a university
and watches day by day
the poor and diligent pine their plight
while the rich ones get their way.

He hated and dreaded and failed
and so, he merrily went away,
on daddy’s American Express
to the United States of A;
his counterpart was just the same
though not so blessed I say:
he found a job in the far quarter
and cycles for hours a day;
scared by the mortgage sum,
his girlfriend went her way.

‘Cross, just cross,’ he says to me,
as I await the light,
‘when the green light does come on
you will be devoured by bikes’;
so we walk blindly on
through the six-lane road,
stopping cars, attracting glares,
I quietly bow my head
like a six-year-old I bite
my lips with unspoken shame:
for only last night I joined her to hate
people like us today.

-

My friend and foe, my land and home,
of mystery vast and fate unknown,
I’ll smile and wince and gasp and mock,
and I’ll love for you're my own.

-

finis