Friday, 6 July 2012

Waiting For A Hero


This poem was written after seeing a picture of Stella Vine’s latest public painting which was used as a backdrop for The Chapman Family’s Mima performance. After seeing the rather gory and morbid subjects in the painting, it felt important to me to capture this anti-war message into a poem. I hope it will suffice well.
The last four lines were used in the painting and are a lyric from the Chapman Family’s song ‘No More Tears’.

You can see pictures of the painting on Stella Vine's facebook page here - https://www.facebook.com/stellavine#!/media/set/?set=a.427503997282952.103945.227602890606398&type=3

And if you are interested in The Chapman Family, here is their facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/TheChapmanFamily



We’ll interfere

When money is the reward,

Land, oil,

And all the world’s spoils.

We’re waiting for a hero

The one to end this war,

But this tyranny of greed

Is no comic-book flaw.

The reality is death

At the hands of political shibboleth.



“We’re sorry for such casualties

But, that’s war.

We’d compensate their families

But it’s really such a chore…”



Front page news:

‘Civilian casualties rise’

First it was the prisoners

But now it’s the children’s turn

-to live like flies.

And we’re too proud

And patriotically ignorant

To deem ourselves the ‘cause’

As we become ever more belligerent.


This just in;

All wars have ended

We found the problem…

And now it has been mended.

All we needed was compassion

Instead of money, greed and fascism.

But who’s going to clean all the mess up?

We’ll tell the media it was charity

And government support

Of endless verity.

But deep down we’ll all know the truth,

It’s embedded in our culture

In our youth…



We listen to the papers

And the stories on the news

We want to feel human

But the media's our only muse

And all we can do

Is live our lives upside down

Where we can feel safe

Beneath this crown.



No More Lies

No More Fear

No More Hate

No More Tears

No More Lies

No More Fear

No More Hate

No More Tears

No More Lies

No More Fear

No More Hate

No More Tears




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