Here come
the talking heads with that stew
Of mellow
tones offering thoughts and prayers,
Pledges of
shoulder-to-shoulder solidarity,
Promises of
we’re here for you always and forever,
We will not
let you down and this will not happen again,
Commitments
to do this and that, vows
To change
the world and our lives forever,
To learn
lessons and act fast, to raid the thesaurus
To find
ways to say nothing meaningful or sincere
But to make
it sound like something heartfelt.
This is who
and what we are, what we have become,
Mouthy,
articulate, apoplectic, boohoo when it suits
But not a
clue about how to act. React? Yes, but not act.
React on
TV, on radio phone-ins shovelling bullshit,
In tweets, chicken
nugget-size pithy and witty grunts,
As if they
will make a jot of difference to any of it.
In this age
of noise, in which there are more opinions
Than sewer rats,
so-called leaders should learn
The art of
shutting the hell up and have a go
At doing
something above and beyond ego,
Something above
and beyond self-preservation.
We can be shocked,
horrified and saddened all we like
But we have
no excuse for being useless.
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