Gilded with Fear

The past is red and the future is blue
The years have stripped so much from you 
You fought for this country, your sweat greased the plough
Your labour birthed the wealth they wallow in now
You did your time, and you’ve earned your rest
On your stooped shoulders they stand and digest
All the fortune and freedom won by your bloodied hands
But now your bones fail and your memory’s in strands
Progress propels you toward inevitable grief 
Time is a robber, an indiscriminate thief 

Confusion is red and your heart is blue
Your peers are falling and deserting you
Their void a testament to mortality’s reign
Your commonality, camaraderie, connections slain
Your licence, your identity, your will and your voice
Traded for demeaning nods and diminishing choice
Technology a language which disables and defeats
Your world is erroded by a plague of deceit 
Scrolling pledged lies peddling renewal and hope
Fed crime and calamity beyond conceivable scope 

The roses are gone and the violets are too
Barricade yourself in, they’re coming for you
They want your treasures, to bleed your estate
So lay traps in the garden and fasten the gate
Plant thorns and spines with burrs in between
Draw all the curtains and black out the screens
Withdraw all your money and store it in socks
Bar all the windows and install extra locks
They don’t understand, or listen, or hear
You’re trapped in a prison gilded with fear

db